


Unintended

by Chalichi



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Bottom Daryl, Daryl is Not a Virgin, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Frottage, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt Daryl Dixon, Kissing, M/M, Mentions of drugs, Merle Being an Asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-08-17 12:04:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8143199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chalichi/pseuds/Chalichi
Summary: 'He saw a man standing next to the bar, talking to two other guys.He had long dark blonde hair tied in a bun rather low on his head, a neatly trimmed full beard and the clearest green eyes he'd ever seen.'Merle drags Daryl with him to a bar.While at the bar Daryl notices a bearded stranger.





	1. Stranger

“Come on lill’ brother! Come with us! Ya need to unwind, can't sit here cooped up all the damn time!” Merle all but shouted outside Daryl's closed door. 

Merle had been nagging at Daryl for over an hour for Daryl to come with him, and his friends to the bar they used to hang out in.  
Daryl wasn't in the mood for drinking, especially not with Merle and his gang.  
Every time they went drinking, Merle ended up drinking one too many. Either causing a fight with some random dude that just happen to tic him off, or hitting on some chick bringing her over, and then Daryl would have to hear them getting it on in the next room.  
Not that enthralling, walls being thin and all.  
But if that wasn't bad enough, he just knew Merle was going to “help” Daryl get some ass of his own. He did that every time they were out, and Daryl wasn't that thrilled about it.  
Not that it was bad of Merle trying to help his brother out, it was because Merle picked the wrong gender for Daryl to be interested.  
Daryl was gay, and had tried enough chicks to be sure about that.  
But he hadn't told his brother that. And he wasn't planning on it either. Merle came with enough homophobic remarks as it was, and he was sure Merle would beat his ass senseless if he ever found out, so, no! He would keep his mouth shut about it and keep on pretending he was straight for as long as he lived.  
Pretty pathetic for a 38 year old man to stay in the closet, but not everyone had Merle for a brother, and they fucking lived together! 

“Are you listening to me baby brother!?” 

Daryl sighed. “Yea! I was thinking about going out hunting or somethin’.” Daryl shouted back. 

He heard the door open, and Merle stepped inside, walking over to him.  
“Ya can do that tomorrow! Come on brother! Everybody is wondering why the hell ya never tag along anymore!” 

Merle dropped down to the sofa beside Daryl with a huff. “Please! Please come with. I will not ask anythin’ for a month.” Merle said with a pleading look at Daryl. 

Daryl sighed in defeat, knowing that Merle would keep on nagging until he grew tired of it, and then drag Daryl out anyway. There was no winning in this.  
“Fine! But I don't understand why ya want me with this bad.” 

Merle laughed and placed a hand on Daryl's shoulder. “Well do ya remember Molly? That blonde chick with the really nice rack? Turns out she has a sister, or cousin, or whatever. Anyway, she is really interested in ya, and she will be there tonight!” 

Daryl gave Merle a dirty look. “I don't need any help with that!” He said through clenched teeth. 

“I know brother, but ya haven't gotten yer dick wet for over a month! I'm starting to think ya might be a monk or somethin’.” Merle said with a mock-concern look on his face. “Soon enough the boys will be talkin’.” 

“I ain't no monk!” Daryl said. “Just haven't found anyone worth while.” 

Merle jumped off the sofa and placed a hand on Daryl's shoulder. 

“Well, the more the reason ya should come with tonight! Molly's sister or whatever might be worth while? Or a nice distraction for all I care!” 

Daryl stood up at that and gave his brother a nod. 

“Right, distraction it is.” He said standing up and walked out of the room, brother in tow.  
He had a feeling this night would end in some kind of disaster, as always. 

 

On their way to the bar Merle stopped to pick up his friend Ryan.  
He had lost his drivers license a month ago for driving under the influence.  
He were still driving from time to time, but he had heard the cops would be out tonight, and didn't want to risk it. 

He hopped in beside Daryl in the front of Merle's truck, smelling of old sweat and booze.  
The stench made Daryl's stomach turn.  
Ryan was clearly drunk, slumping agains Daryl every turn Merle made.  
And Daryl regretted his decision about coming with them tonight even more now. 

When they finally made it to the bar Merle walked over to the booth he and his crew normally sat in.  
There were a few guys who Daryl knew by name, and some he'd never seen before.  
Merle seem to know everyone by the way he greeted everybody.  
Daryl walked behind Merle, studied the crew. 

“This is my lill’ brother” Merle said, planting his hand on one of Daryl's shoulder. “I made him tag along today!” 

The crew greeted him with some handshakes and nods in his direction.  
Daryl felt a little uncomfortable being in the center of attention, so he greeted everyone and then he shook his brothers hand off of him and sat down in the nearest empty seat. 

Merle said he was going to get some beer and walked towards the bar.  
While he was away the crew started to talk about their latest conquers, Daryl listened for a while when some guy named Ron told a story about some girl he dragged home who turned out to be a transvestite. 

“I kicked his face in real good. Don't even think his whore mother recognized him when she saw him.” Ron laughed and took a swig of his beer. 

Daryl, who found the story unnecessary cruel, picked up his beat-up package of cigarettes and lighted one up and took a drag if it.  
He started look in the direction of bar, wondering where Merle was.  
He heard someone laughing really loud, and his eyes darted towards the sound. 

He saw a man standing next to the bar, talking to two other guys.  
He had long dark blonde hair tied in a bun rather low on his head, a neatly trimmed full beard and the clearest green eyes he'd ever seen.  
He was wearing a red t-shirt and dark jeans. 

Daryl was hypnotized by the man. By the way he moved his hands when he talked.  
So hypnotized he didn't even noticed Merle when he came back from the bar with two women in tow. 

He jumped when Merle put down a beer bottle with more force then necessary front of him.  
His eyes snapped up at Merle and the two women. 

“Daydreaming much?” He said with a smug grin on his face. 

Daryl shook his head no. “Was just looking for someone might worth my time.” He said trying out a grin of his own. 

“I just might have found ‘em!  
This is Molly and Molly's cousin! As it turns out!”  
Merle said nodding between the two women.  
“Her name is Sally. She is a erotic dancer! Said to give the best lap-dances in town.” 

Merle smiled smugly while the girl named Sally took a seat next to Daryl.  
“Told ya I would introduce ya to her.” 

Daryl eyed Sally for a while. She was pretty, golden blonde hair falling in nice curlers down her shoulders, warm hazel eyes and had a black dress on that really fitted her curves.  
Any other guy would call her a catch, and some of the guys in the crew were practically drooling by the sight of her. But pretty was all she was to Daryl. 

After taking a swig of his beer, Daryl held out his hand to her.  
“Hi. ‘M Daryl.” He said taking another drag of his almost finished cigarette. 

Sally smiled and shook his hand.  
“Sally.” She said. “Your brother have told me a lot about you.” 

“I bet he has.” Daryl said, shooting an annoyed glance towards his brother. 

Sally started to talk about her work, how she was annoyed by a particularly clingy customer, but he payed good.  
“One time he showed up with a diamond necklace! I told him that I was flattered, but I couldn't accept that. But he insisted.” She continued. 

Daryl tried to act interested, but his gaze kept wandering towards the man with the beard.  
He was now sitting by a table close to the bar. He was facing Daryl, so he had no problem following the line of facial expressions the man was making. 

The way his eyes crinkled up when he laughed, how his mouth looked when he smiled, the gestures he made when he talked.  
Daryl could stare at him all night. 

“So what are you doing for a living?”  
The question made him snap back to reality. Sally was looking at him curiously.

“I ehh…” Daryl stuttered. “I don't do anythin’ special right now.” 

Sally kept on staring on him for a while, making Daryl feel a little uncomfortable. He reached for his pack of cigarettes again and lighted another one. 

“Well that's ok too.”she said after a while. “I was unemployed for almost a year before I started as an exotic dancer.” 

She started talking about how she struggled that year, going on job interviews and never giving up.  
That it was building up her character or something like that.  
Daryl wasn't listening, eyes drifting again to the bearded man. 

After a while of staring, the bearded man looked up at him, and locked eyes with him.  
Daryl froze. His heart stopped and he felt warm all over. 

He heard Merle laugh loudly and broke eye contact with the bearded stranger to look over at his brother.  
Merle were in the middle of a drinking game with two of his friends.  
He was the judge, while his friends competed in which one of them could drink the most beer without throwing up. 

Daryl looked in amusement at the two contestants, one of them leaning halfway on the wall, eyes drooping a little. The other one was sitting up straighter, but had a nice green hue on his face.  
The rest of the crew were loudly cheering them on. 

 

The rest of the night went pretty fast.  
The drinking game ended in the leaning guy, named Andrew, falling off of his chair in to a heap on the floor.  
And the other guy, named Todd, was declared the winner. Todd disappeared quickly towards the restroom after the declaration and wasn't seen again after that.  
Merle hooked up with Molly, who were right now dry-humping Merle, the two of them making rather obscene noises.

The remaining crew members were either joining the drunken serenade or lying sprawled on the table. Ryan had blacked out rather early in the evening. 

Daryl started to feel the effects of the booze himself, and were feeling rather relaxed.  
He had stolen a few glanced of the bearded guy all evening, and Sally were feeling rather ignored. 

Sally had tried to get his attention every now and then by asking him questions and telling him stories about herself.  
She grew tired of his short answers quickly and tried a different approach.  
She flung herself on his lap and started to kiss him, while she were grinding herself on his lap.  
He heard laugher and cheering from the conscious crew members who stopped their singing to look at the show. 

Daryl was stunned. He just sat there while she kissed him and moaned into his mouth.  
When he felt her tongue against his bottom lip, he showed he gently off of him and stood up. 

“I need to take a piss.” He grumbled and scrambled off in the direction of the restroom. 

While in the restroom he almost tripped over a sleeping Todd who was laying by one of the restroom stalls.  
Daryl sighed and walked around him towards one of the sinks.

He turned the faucet on and washed his face with cold water. 

When he was done rinsing his face, he looked up at the cracked mirror over the sink.  
He looked at his reflection, his hair was ruffled, his eyes tired and glossy due to his slight intoxication, his lips were red and puffy after Sally kissing him. 

“Fuck!” He cursed and looked down on his hands who were gripping the sink tightly. 

He heard the restroom door open and close.  
And then he heard footsteps approaching him. 

“Heh! Looks like this guy couldn't hold his liquor!” The stranger said. 

Daryl turned to look at the stranger, and froze on the spot.


	2. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl's head isn't working with him.   
> And Merle makes a scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's homophobic language in this chapter.   
> Just a heads up, so no one gets taken by surprise by it.

Daryl stood frozen in place, just looking at the man in front of him.   
The stranger was no other then the bearded man he'd been looking at all night. 

The stranger was right now squatting beside the unconscious Todd, looking for signs of life.

“You sure he's ok?” The bearded man asked, looking over at Daryl. 

Right then Todd snored unbelievably loud, making the bearded man jump backwards, almost falling on his ass.   
Daryl huffed a laugh at the sight. 

“Well, I guess that means he's alive at least.” The bearded man said smiling at Daryl. 

Daryl felt his heat speed up and he had to remind himself how to breathe.   
Even in the dim light from the restroom, the strangers eyes were clearly visible. Almost as if they had a light of their own. 

“I've seen you looking at me all night.” The stranger said. “Don’t know if it was a bad or a good thing, considering the guys you hang out with.” 

Daryl just stood there looking at him, thinking whether or not he should run out of the restroom.   
He didn’t get the chance to make up his mind, because the bearded stranger was walking towards him. 

“You got a name?” He asked when he stopped in front of Daryl,  
Close enough to be able to touch him. 

The stranger looked at him with a small smile on his lips.   
Daryl was still focusing on how to breathe properly, he found it even more difficult now when the stranger was so close to him. 

Figuring he couldn't stare at the man like an idiot, he looked over at the sleeping Todd. 

“I'm Paul.” The stranger said after a while of silence. “Paul Rovia. But most of my friends calls me Jesus.” 

Daryl looked up at Paul again. “Jesus?”He managed to say.

“It speaks!” Paul said a huge grin spreading across his face. 

Daryl huffed another laugh. “M’ Daryl.” He said. 

“Ok Daryl. Nice to meet you.” Paul said holding out his hand for Daryl to take.

Daryl's gaze wandered from the hand Paul held out to Paul's eyes.   
He kept on flicking his eyes up and down, and felt a smile starting to form on his lips.   
He had no clue why he reacted the way he did. And quite frankly he felt ridiculous.   
He felt his face heat up and he laughed nervously. 

Paul must've seen the distress in Daryl's eyes or something, because he just smiled again and took Daryl's hand in his. “This is how you do it.” He said. 

Daryl looked down at their joined hands and a tingling feeling started to spread throughout his body. 

Daryl let go of Paul's hand as if he was burned by it and took a few steps backwards. 

Paul just shrugged and walked past Daryl towards the urinals on the wall behind him. 

“Do I dare to ask why you've been staring at me all night?” He asked. “Must say, it's been quite distracting.”   
He said with laughter in his voice. 

Daryl turned around facing Paul's back, thinking about a good answer for the question. Contemplating not to answer at all.   
He decided it to be best to not answer the question and just leave, figuring Merle would be looking for him soon. 

“I have’ta go.” He said turning around and walked towards the door, almost tripping over the sleeping Todd again. 

“Wait!” Paul called after him. 

Daryl ignored him and walked out of the restroom. 

 

When Daryl returned to the booth, Merle and Molly were nowhere to be seen.   
Sally had vanished as well, which Daryl only felt relieved for.   
He wasn't in the mood to explain why he had left in such a hurry. 

Most of Merle's crew were gone too.   
A few of them were hanging by the bar, talking to girls to drunk to make better judgment then to go home with them. 

Daryl walked over to the bar where he saw one of Merle's friends, tongue so deep down in her throat he was sure she was choking on it. 

He tapped on his shoulder, trying to get his attention. 

“Hey! You've seen Merle?” He asked. 

The guy grunted a little before giving the girl the freedom of breathing back again. 

“What?” He asked and turned towards Daryl's direction. He almost fell of the barstool when he turned around. 

“You've seen Merle?” Daryl asked again. “He was gone when I came back from the restroom. He's my ride home.” 

The guy looked like he was in deep thoughts for a while, but Daryl was almost certain he was too drunk off his ass to even remember he's own fucking name. 

“Never mind.” Daryl said after a while and walked of.   
The guy just grunted again and returned to chocking the girl with his tongue. 

He scanned the bar for a while, but there wasn't any sign of Merle anywhere.   
There wasn't any signs of Molly and Sally either. 

He thought about walking back to the booth and wait for him, but he didn't want to just sit there.   
So he walked back to the bar desk to order a new beer, not really paying attention, and walked right into two guys, making one of them spill their beer all over the front of his shirt. 

“Woah!” The guy said. 

“Sorry.” Daryl said in a defensive tone, making himself ready to fight the guy if needed. 

“Oh, it's ok!” The guy said smiling. “It's a bit crowded in here. Not that easy to see where you're going.” 

Daryl looked at the guy in disbelieve.   
What was it with people smiling at him today!? 

“I'm Aaron.” The guy said. “And this is Eric.” He continued gesturing to the guy standing next to him. 

“Ok. Hey.” Daryl said.   
Daryl recognized the pair as the two guys Paul was talking to before. 

“You're friends of Paul right?” Daryl blurted out. 

Aaron nodded at him and begun to dry off the beer-stain on his shirt with a piece of paper one of the bartenders had given him. 

“Yeah.” He said. “Haven't seen him in a while though. He said he was going to the restroom for about forty minutes ago, and he hasn't come back yet.” 

“How do you know Paul?” Eric asked him. 

Daryl felt his ears heat up at the question, his lowered his gaze down towards the ground, looking at a trampled piece of gum near his right boot. 

“I.. Ehh.” He began, and stopped abruptly when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders.   
Startled by someone suddenly touching him, he turned around quickly, looking directly into a pair of smiling green eyes. 

“There you are!” Paul said happily. “Been looking for you. You disappeared so quickly.” 

Daryl looked down at Paul's hands who had landed on Daryl's upper arms when he turned around.   
He felt all of his body heat up at the touch, and the tingle in his body returned with full force.   
He looked up at Paul's eyes again. 

“I like your eyes.” He blurted out.   
He kicked himself mentality at what he'd just said.   
Under normal circumstances he would've never had said anything even close to that, but it was something about this man that made his mind foggy. And the beers he'd been drinking before didn't help the matter at all. 

Paul was smiling even wider now, with so much warmth Daryl was afraid he would catch on fire. 

“You do?” Paul asked. “I like your arms. Feels nice to have my hands on them.” 

After he said that he started to move his hands up and down Daryl's arms.   
Now he was sure the friction was going to make him spontaneously combust at any minute.   
It felt like there was sparks of electricity where Paul was touching him, and he started to shake slightly.   
It felt like he wasn't getting enough oxygen and again he was forced to focus on his breathing. 

He had to get away from this man before he did something he regretted.  
Like kissing him senseless.   
At that thought Daryl's eyes darted down to Paul's lips. They were almost as hypnotizing as his eyes.   
And he felt himself lean in a little towards Paul.   
Again he wondered what the hell he was doing!   
Merle could be back any minute now, and here he was digging in for a kiss like some horny teenager. 

But before he could back out off it and flee, Paul must've felt him leaning in and was now leaning forward himself, closing the gap between them, giving Daryl a kiss with slightly parted lips. 

The electricity Daryl felt before was nothing to what he felt now, surging throughout his body.   
He forgot how to breathe completely, he forgot all the people around him.   
Right now there was just him and Paul.

He felt the urge to drag his hands, who right now we're hanging useless agains the sides of his body, across Paul's back.   
He wanted to pull Paul closer to himself, feel his body pressed close to him. 

But before he could do more then just play with the thought of it, he heard a man scream bloody murder near the exit of the bar.   
And before he had time to react to who the scram belonged to, someone had grabbed hold of Paul, yanking him away from Daryl, successfully breaking the spell and lifted the fog from Daryl's brain. 

And the first thing he saw was Merle swinging his fist agains Paul's face, hitting him square in the jaw, making him fly against a nearby table behind them.   
And before Paul had a chance to get up Merle had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him up to face Merle. 

“What do ya think yer’re doing ya pansy-ass cocksucker!” Merle shouted in Paul's face. “I'll teach ya not to touch mah brother again ya fuckin’ faggot!” 

After that hell broke loose.   
People were screaming and shouting, they were trying to run away from the scene, almost tramping each other down to get to the exit. 

Merle rammed Paul into the wall right beside the bar, knocking the wind out off his lungs.

Aaron and Eric rushed forward, shouting at Merle to stop, trying to get to Paul by pulling at Merle's arms, trying to loosen his hold of him.   
But Merle just pushed them aside, like they were flies, and kept on pushing Paul into the wall over and over. 

Daryl ran over to Merle, launching at him, making him loose his grip on Paul. Merle and Paul were both fell to the floor by the impact.   
Aaron and Eric helped Daryl hold Merle down, Daryl sitting on his back while Eric held his legs down to try to stop him from kicking.   
Aaron grabbed his his arms and crossed them over his back with Daryl's assistance.   
Daryl took the red rag he had in his back pocket, tying Merle's hands together.   
Aaron shouted for the bartender to call the police while he tried to help Daryl hold down the screaming Merle. 

“I'm sorry Merle.” Daryl said. 

“Why are ya doing this lill’ bro?!” Merle screamed at Daryl. “He fucken almost raped ya! That fucken twat had his dirty hands all over ya!” 

Daryl ignored Merle's comment completely. He just looked over at the beaten up Paul lying on the floor, feeling a pang of guilt in his chest.   
He looked at Aaron with a meaning glance and Aaron cached on and held down Merle's hands tighter on his back, letting Daryl get off of his back and then Aaron was taking Daryl's place on Merle's back, holding him down.

Daryl crawled over to Paul and checked him over, he was conscious, but were breathing pretty uneven.   
He helped Paul sit up, and sat down beside him. An ugly bruise were starting to form on his right cheek, partly hidden by his beard. 

“I'm so sorry for this.” Daryl said in a low voice, picking at his nails. 

“It's alright.” Paul said between breaths. “It's not a party until someone starts a fight.” He laughed, the laughter ending up in him coughing.  
Daryl looked at Paul, but Paul just waved it off. 

Merle had stopped trashing around, and were now glaring at Paul and Daryl. 

“Are ya like them Daryleena?” He asked with a evil smirk. “Do ya enjoy taking it up in the ass? I bet ya do, ya disgusting lill’ faggot!” 

Daryl let out a sigh of relief when he heard sirens outside the bar.   
He stood up and walked towards the door. 

Outside he saw one police car and one ambulance parked near the door to the now empty bar.   
The doors flung open to the police car and the sheriff stepped out of it followed by his tired looking colleague.   
The sheriff walked around the car and walked towards Daryl. 

“Hi! I'm Rick Grimes. There was a bar fight reported at this address, are we at the right place?” He asked.

“Yea, my brother…” Daryl said, and nodded towards the entrance. 

Grimes stopped to wait for the paramedics who were unloading their equipment from the ambulance. 

“Were there anyone hurt in the fight?” The female paramedic asked him. 

Daryl nodded. “Paul.. He..” Was all Daryl could muster out. 

“Do you need to get checked on?” She asked him. 

“No.” Daryl said.

The female paramedic looked over at Grimes, Who nodded and walked in, the other officer right behind him.   
The paramedics following after them to take care of Paul.

Daryl felt really tired, and leaned heavily on the wall next to the entrance of the bar.   
He rubbed his hands across his face, and started to slide down the wall, sitting down on the ground.

After a few minutes he saw Merle walking out of the bar, cuffed with the sheriff right behind him.   
He sat Merle in the backseat of the car, closed the door and walked over to Daryl. 

“We're going to keep him for a while. The man he beat-up wasn't sure if he wanted to press charges against him.” Grimes said.  
“We will ask your brother some questions and then we'll give you a call, alright?” 

Daryl nodded at the sheriff, not having enough energy to form any words at the moment.   
Grimes gave him a nod of his own and walked back to the car. 

Daryl watched as they drove away, feeling his heart sink a little. 

He got up from the ground and walked back into the bar. 

Inside Paul was sitting on a chair being taken care of by the paramedics.   
Daryl felt his insides twist even more at the sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know Daryl is ooc in this fic, but i had to write him this way in order to make it fit. 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter anyway.   
> And I don't think i will be able to post the next chapter as soon as I posted this one. 
> 
> Comments are really appreciated!


	3. Apologize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's been liking and commenting this story.  
> I really appreciate it. 
> 
> And I hope you like this chapter too! :)

Daryl stood leaning by the door, he couldn't go in the bar facing Paul after what his brother did to him.  
The paramedics were checking his back now, looking for eventual broken ribs.  
Daryl saw him grimace in pain, flinching away from the paramedic. 

Aaron were talking to the male paramedic by the bar top, while Eric were sitting next to Paul.  
Daryl felt so out of place.  
It was his fault this had happen, but he was to much of a coward to face Paul and tell him he was sorry.  
Daryl growled in frustration and stormed out of the bar, and walked out to the parking lot, taking out his last cigarette and lit it up. 

A few minutes later Aaron walked out of the bar. He saw Daryl and walked towards him. 

“There you are! How are you feeling?” He asked, giving Daryl a concerned look. 

“M’ fine.” Daryl said glancing over at Aaron. “M’ not the one who got beat-up.” 

Aaron gave Daryl a sad smile at his comment.  
“No, you're right about that.” He said. “But your brother was just taken away by the cops.” 

Daryl stared at the glowing cigarette in his hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world. 

“Isn't his first time behind bars.” He simply said. 

Truth was, he wasn't sad Merle had been taken away.  
He was sad about not beating Merle's ass to the ground before the cops had arrived, sure, but other then that he couldn't say he was sad Merle was gone. 

“How is he?” Daryl suddenly asked, making Aaron look up at him. 

“Looks like he's fine. Bruised up pretty badly, but nothing's broken.” Aaron said. “You should talk to him.” 

Daryl looked at Aaron in disbelief.  
“Nah man. Pretty sure he won't talk to me.” He said taking a drag from his cigarette.

He heard Aaron chuckle.  
“Actually, he asked me to come get you.” He said. 

Daryl looked up at Aaron again.  
He shook his head and tossed his finished cigarette to the ground, watching the sparks fly everywhere when it hit the ground.

“Nah.” He simply said. 

“He doesn't blame you, you know.” Aaron said, planting a hand on Daryl's shoulder, making him tense up. Aaron must've felt it, because he dropped his hand off of Daryl's shoulder straight afterwards. 

They heard the door to the bar open, and saw the two paramedics walk out, followed by Paul and Eric.  
They walked towards Daryl and Aaron.

Daryl's heart clenched in his chest when he saw Paul.  
He had a barley noticeable limp when he walked. 

“Are you sure you don't want to come with us?” The female paramedic asked Paul. 

“I'm sure.” He said, smiling at her. “It's really not that bad. Would've been a lot worse if I this guy hadn't been here to help me.” He gestured to Daryl. 

Daryl felt his ears heat up at Paul's comment.

“Yeah. You're one lucky guy.” She said and smiled at Daryl. 

The paramedics said their goodbyes, jumped in the ambulance and drove off. 

Shortly after the paramedics had driven away Eric and Aaron said they were heading home. 

“Are you coming with us?” Eric asked Paul. 

“No.” Paul said. “I think I will stay for a while. I'll call you guys tomorrow.” 

Daryl heard Aaron and Eric laugh a little, and then he heard them walk away.

Daryl felt Paul's gaze on him, it made him feel nervous and uneasy.  
Like a teenager about to talk to his crush.  
He mentally cursed at himself for feeling like that.  
But it was something about Paul that made him feel vulnerable.  
It was like Paul's intensive eyes saw right into his soul. 

He heard Paul sigh and then he heard him walk towards Merle's truck, leaning up against it. 

“It wasn't your fault you know.” Paul said. 

Daryl turned around to look at him. 

“He wouldn't have touched ya if it wasn't for me kissn’ ya.” Daryl said quietly. 

Paul laughed. “I don't believe you. I'm pretty sure he would've found a way to beat me anyway. If not for kissing you, then for kissing someone else.” 

Daryl sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. 

“Ya might be right…” He said after a while. 

Paul smiled at him. “I know I am. I know how guys like him work.” 

Daryl sighed and nodded at him.  
He couldn't believe how lightly Paul took this.  
Daryl had expected him to be angry, never wanting to see him again.  
And here he was, doing the opposite.

“You want me to drive you home?” Paul asked him. 

“Ehhh..” Was all Daryl could say. 

“Don't worry, I haven't been drinking.” He said when Daryl didn't say anything more.

Daryl had planned to walk home, to get Merle's truck in the morning.  
He didn't even had the keys to the truck, so he would have to hotwire the damn thing. 

“I have the keys.” Paul said as if he were reading Daryl's thoughts. 

Daryl gave him a strange look.  
“What?” He said gruffly. 

“Yeah.” Paul said and looked down at his shoes. “The police gave them to me when they were searching your brother. I said I was going to give them to you.” 

“Oh!” Daryl said. 

Daryl thought about it. It would be easier for him to let Paul drive him home, if he wanted to.  
It would spare him a long walk home, and quite frankly he was too damn tired to walk that far.  
And it would mean spending more time with Paul, that thought was making his heart speed up and hands sweat. 

“Yeah, ok.” He said then. 

Paul looked up at him and smiled. 

********

The ride to Daryl's place was quiet. The only thing spoken between them were short directions whenever Paul had to make a turn or something.  
Mostly because Daryl was to nervous to say anything else.  
The only thing he were concentrating on was the fact that Paul was really close to him. 

He watched him from the corner from his eye every time he thought Paul wouldn't notice it.  
He felt really stupid from doing so. This man was making him a nervous mess. And Daryl didn't like it, but at the same time he did. 

“Should I turn here?” Paul asked suddenly. 

Daryl snapped his eyes forward to look at the road ahead.  
They were really close to the trailer park were he and Merle lived.  
The road was surrounded by forest on both sides of it, but there was a small muddy trail going in to the forest, large enough for a car to drive on. And beside it was a beaten up sign that read ‘Alexandria trailer park’ 

“Yeah. Just drive in there.” He said. 

Paul made the turn and and drove in.  
It was a good thing it hadn't rain for a while, or else it would've been a good chance the car would get stuck. 

After a bit of driving on the trail they drove into an open field. About fifty trailers were parked in lines on the field.  
Some of them in better shape then others. 

“Just drive further back.”Daryl said.  
“Ya won't miss ours. It's the shittiest one here.” 

Paul glanced at Daryl from the corner of his eye and nodded. 

He drove on forward and passed the lines of trailers, and came to a halt when he saw a trailer that looked like it had seen better days.  
A lot of better days.

It looked like it could use a good cleaning, some of the windows were broken, duck-tape holding them together, the front door had a few cracks in it and the roof were full of leafs and branches from the large trees surrounding the trailer.

“Is this the one?” Paul asked looking over at Daryl. 

“Yeah.” He exhaled. “Home shitty home.” 

Paul huffed a laughed, drove closer to the trailer and parked the truck. 

Daryl opened the passenger door and climbed out, Paul got out too and followed Daryl to the trailer. 

“Though you needed these.” Paul said and handed Daryl the keys when he turned around to face him.

Daryl shook his head and opened the front door. 

“Nah. It doesn't lock.” He said. “Merle broke the lock years ago.  
Came home drunk as a skunk, couldn't find his keys and started to pound at the door with a crowbar he'd found in the truck.” 

Paul stood in the threshold of the door and looked at Daryl. 

“Your brother doesn't sound like the patient type.”

Daryl snorted and walked inside. “Nah, never has and never will. He's more of the ‘this sounds like a bad idea, let's do it’ type of guy” 

“And you?” Paul asked and followed Daryl inside. 

“What about me?” He said looking over at Paul. 

“What type of guy are you?” 

Paul had stopped walking and were now leaning agains a kitchen counter, facing Daryl.  
His gaze were intense, and Daryl found it hard to concentrate at the question Paul had asked him.  
Daryl felt flushed and nervous again. His heart were beating hard and fast in his chest.

“I.. Ehh.. I dunno.” He said looking away.

“I can tell you're nothing like your brother.” Paul said and started to walk around in the trailer. 

It wasn't as bad inside as outside of the trailer. It could use a good cleaning, and some of the furniture was worse for where, but it was functioning.  
It had two bedrooms and a quite large living /kitchen area.  
Beer bottles and dishes were littered at the kitchen area and some arrows and clothes were tossed on the couch. 

Paul walked over to the couch and sat down after dropping a pair of jeans to the floor.  
When he were comfortable enough he turned to face Daryl. 

Daryl were watching Jesus intensively.

“Most people think we're alike.” Daryl said after a while. 

“Well, I guess that's because the main focus is on your brother.” Paul simply stated.

“Mhm.” Daryl huffed. 

He didn't really want to talk about his brother, so searching for a distraction he bent down and started to look through one of the cabinets in the kitchen. 

After a while of shuffling various items out of the cabinet to the floor he stood up with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. 

He opened the bottle and took a swig directly from it.. 

“Why do your friends call you Jesus?” He asked suddenly and walked towards the couch and sat down beside Paul, offering him the bottle. 

Paul accepted the bottle and took a swig from it before answering. 

“It kind of started when I let my beard grow.” He said. “ I've always had longer hair, but a few years ago I decided to grow my beard out. And the people started to call me Jesus because I kind of look like him. Then it just kind of stuck I guess.” 

He took another swig from the bottle and then passed it back to Daryl. 

“Mhm” Daryl said taking another mouthful of the liquor.

********

They were sitting in silence for a while, passing the bottle between them.  
Daryl lit a cigarette he'd found by the ashtray and watched the smoke billow to the ceiling. 

“M’ really sorry about my brother.” Daryl said suddenly, breaking the silence. 

Paul looked at him, eyes slightly glossy due to the alcohol. 

“I've already said it's ok.”

Daryl took a last drag of his cigarette and crushed the bud in an nearby ashtray. 

“I know. But, anyway. Wanted to say it” 

He didn't know why he felt compelled to say it. Could be the alcohol buzzing in his brain, or maybe the fact that he liked this strange man. 

Daryl looked up at Paul, and just like in the bar Daryl got sucked in by his intense gaze.  
The air in the smoke-filled trailer got thick and heated, and once again he forgot how to breathe. 

Daryl felt a spark run through him when Paul's leg grazed over his when Paul turned to fully face him, making him shiver involuntary. 

Paul reached over and placed his hands on Daryl's shoulders, drawing him in.  
And just like that their lips met for the second time that night.


	4. Close

When Daryl woke up his head were throbbing something awful.  
The sun were shining on his face, so he refused to open his eyes. 

His mouth felt dry, like he'd been running for miles without drinking, so his first thought was to get up and drink some water.  
With his eyes still closed he shifted slightly on the couch to get up.  
That was when he felt the slight weight on him. 

He opened his eyes slowly, squinting against the blinding sunlight beaming through the kitchen window, to look down at what was lying on him. 

There he saw Paul lying with his back against the couch.  
He had his head on Daryl's shoulder and his right arm and leg sprawled over Daryl, trapping him in place.  
And Daryl's right hand were resting on Paul's midsection.  
Paul's shirt had slipped up during the night, so he were feeling Paul's skin against his hand. 

Daryl felt his heartbeat speed up, and he started to breathe heavily.

How the fuck did they end up like this?!  
They were both dressed, so he didn't think they'd gone that far at least. 

But he did remember kissing. A lot of kissing.  
He remembered Paul's eyes.  
Those hypnotizing green eyes.  
He remembered Paul drawing him towards him, making their lips meet.  
He had felt Paul's tongue grazing his lower lip, making Daryl gasp, deepening the kiss. 

They had kissed like that for a while, just tasting each other until Daryl wanted to go further. He had grabbed Paul by his hair, tangled his fingers through the bun on his head and pulling him closer towards him.  
Paul hadn't minded that at all.  
Paul had started to trace his fingers on Daryl's back, scratching him, sending shivers throughout Daryl's body. 

After a while Paul had pushed Daryl down, making him lie down with Paul on top of him.  
Paul had grabbed hold of Daryl's hands and had pinned him down with his arms above his head. 

He had a vague memory about Paul grinding himself against Daryl, but he didn't remember much after that.  
Maybe he should talk to Paul about it later?

The thought about Paul humping him didn't help his breathing at all!  
And he felt a slight stirring in his nether regions, and that wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now. 

He tried to calm down by taking some deep breaths through his nose. 

It would've worked if it wasn't for the sleeping man lying on him had shifted in his sleep, pushing his leg up against the growing tent in Daryl's jeans.  
Daryl bit the inside of his lip, stifling a moan that tried to escape his throat. 

He had to get away from this man, now! Before he did something he would regret. 

Trying to focus his thoughts away from anything sexual he tried to think about un-sexual thoughts, like gutting a rabbit, or how to skin a deer, he tried to get up from the couch carefully.  
He shifted his body slightly to his right, trying to free his arm from underneath Paul.  
He kept his eyes locked to Paul's face to make sure he didn't disturb him. 

When his arm were free he shifted even more, trying to free himself from Paul's grip around himself.  
Paul stirred a little, turning so he was lying on his stomach instead of on his side, but didn't wake up. 

Daryl stood up, grimacing a little as his head started to pound more when he moved. 

He walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, downing it in one go. 

He looked over at the sleeping man on the couch over his shoulder.  
His hair had mostly escaped the bun, a few strands of hair had fallen across his face and the rest were tangled in the elastic band on his upper back.  
His neatly kept beard was ruffled in all sorts of different directions.  
His lips were slightly parted, glistening in the bright sunlight. 

Daryl caught himself staring at said lips and turned to walk towards his bedroom. 

Daryl's room wasn't large, it had a small bed standing in the back corner of the room, a small couch cramped between the other corner and the bed and a desk who were overflowing with cigarette buds and beer cans. 

On the floor by the foot of his bed were his crossbow.  
The only pride in his life.  
It was a gift from Merle. He had given it to him as an ‘I'm sorry I got locked up again’ gift a few years ago.  
It was the closest to a birthday or Christmas gift he'd ever gotten. 

Daryl walked into the small room and tossed himself on the bed face first.  
He groaned as the pressure of his weight pushed on his already uneasy stomach, and turned around to lie on his back instead. 

As he lay there he started to think about Merle.  
He had fucken seen him kiss Paul!  
‘Ya like it up in the ass, don't ya!’ Merle's voice screamed in his head.  
He grimaced at the memory. 

He knew what Merle felt about gay people.  
That was why he'd always been careful.  
Until yesterday that was.

He'd slept with guys before.  
But it had always been a quick fuck in an ally or in their cars.  
On rare occasions he'd follow them home and leave as soon as he'd wake up in the morning, sometimes even as soon as they'd finished.  
It depended on how tired he was.

And he had always been careful not to hookup with someone in places close to home.  
Which meant that Daryl would have to drive away to any other random city every time he felt the urge. Which wasn't that often.

The random guys he’d hooked up with had always left him feeling disgusted with himself.  
But not Paul.

His thoughts drifted to the man seeping out on the couch again.  
Never in his life had a guy made him act like this, feel like this.  
Make him feel hot and bothered by just looking at him.  
Making his head a jumbled mess.  
Making him say stupid things.  
Daryl wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

It was because of this guy he had acted on his feelings at the moment and kissed him out in the open.  
And because of that Paul had gotten hurt. 

Daryl's heart sank at that last thought.

Daryl rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms and groaned in frustration.  
Thoughts kept spinning around in his head, and his hangover didn't help. 

******

His line of thoughts came to a halt as he heard a shuffling noise coming from the kitchen.

He got up from the bed and walked out towards the noise. 

He saw Paul shuffling through one of the kitchen cabinets, mumbling something under his breath. 

He's hair were hanging freely now, spilling down on his shoulders.  
By the looks of him Daryl could really understand why the nickname “Jesus” had stuck with him. 

Daryl caught himself staring at the man again.  
Snapping out of his daze he decided to say something instead.

“Ya looking for somethin’” Daryl said, making Paul jump in surprise. 

“Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out off me!” Paul said staring at Daryl with wide eyes. 

“Um, sorry.” Daryl said. “Now what are ya looking for?” 

Paul closed the cabinet door and leaned against the counter.  
“I was looking for something to eat, but you don't have anything in here that isn't beer and what I believe is moonshine.” He said grimacing in disgust. 

Daryl scratched his neck, looking a little embarrassed.  
“Yeh, well we mostly go out huntin’ for our food. Sometimes we eat out. Merle knows this girl, she works at the diner just down the road. She usually gives us food for free.” Daryl said shrugging. 

Paul nodded and walked over at the couch, sitting down with a huff.  
He rested his head on the headrest and closed his eyes. 

Daryl stood by the bedroom door, fidgeting a little with his feet. 

“Did you sleep well?” Paul asked glancing over at Daryl from the couch with half lidded eyes. 

“Fine.” He said. 

Paul nodded again and closed his eyes once more. 

Daryl decided that now was a good time as ever to ask how far they'd went last night.  
Hopefully Paul would remember more than he did. 

Daryl walked over to the couch and sat down beside Paul.  
Paul opened his eyes when he felt the couch shift and studied him curiously. 

“I.. Um..” Daryl started.  
He felt his face heat up a little, and cursed himself for feeling so nervous around this man. 

He glanced over at Paul and saw the amused smile the man had on his lips. 

“Yes?” Paul said. 

Daryl took a deep breath and started again. 

“I.. I was wondering if we did anything.. You know. Last night?” 

Paul raised his eyebrows and sat up straight. 

“Like what?” He asked. The amused smile grew even bigger. 

Daryl swallowed and started biting the nail of his thumb. 

Deciding to just get it over with, he willed himself to calm down and dropped his hand to his lap. 

“Ok, right. What happened last night?” He said harshly trying to mask the nervousness he was really feeling.  
“I woke up with ya draped over me. I… Did... Did we…” 

“We were dressed Daryl” Paul cut Daryl off. 

“I know that!” Daryl said looking over at Paul. “But ya can do stuff with yer clothes on too!” 

Paul chuckled and shook his head.  
“No. Don't worry. Nothing happened.” He said smiling calmly at Daryl. “Not that I didn't want to do anything with you. But you passed out before we could really do anything.” 

Paul looked down at his hands and started to fidget a little with them.  
He were biting on his lower lip and looked almost unsure about himself. 

“M’ sorry.” Daryl said. 

Paul looked up at him with a puzzled look on his face. 

“For passing out I mean.” Daryl said quickly. 

“You don't need to apologize for that.” Paul said. “It's not that good to sleep with someone they've just met anyway.” 

Daryl snorted a laugh.  
“It's all I've ever done.” He said.

Paul gaped at him, realizing what he was saying.

“You mean you've never been with anyone other than for sex?” 

“Well considering with how my brother feels about gay people it's kinda hard to have a commitment relationship with anyone, don't ya think?” Daryl said.

Paul smiled sadly and looked down at his hands again. 

“Yeah, I guess that's true.” He slowly stated. “Must be hard for you. To live in a lie?” 

He looked back at Daryl, locking eyes with him.  
Daryl felt himself get drawn into those eyes once again.  
He looked away quickly not to make a fool of himself, trying to answer Paul's question.

“I'm kind of used to it by now.” He said shrugging. 

Paul just nodded and leaned back on the couch.  
Daryl opened his mouth to say something more when a faint buzzing were heard, coming form one of the kitchen cabinets. 

Daryl got up from the couch and walked over to the cabinet, opened it and took out his beaten up iPhone. 

He didn't recognize the number on the screen, but something told him he should answer the call. 

“Yea?” He said gruffly. 

“Hi! Is this Daryl Dixon?” The man on the other line asked. 

“It is.” He said. 

“Good! This is Rick Grimes from Atlanta police department.” 

Daryl almost dropped the phone on the floor.  
He didn't expect them to call him so soon. 

“Yea, hi!” 

“I'm calling to inform you that we will keep your brother under custody for a longer period of time. We have found some new evidence that we have to look into before we can let him go.” Grimes said.

Daryl walked in towards his bedroom and sat down on his bed, suddenly feeling lightheaded.

“Ok? For how long? When can I see him?” Ha asked hoarsely.

“We will keep him for a minimum of twenty four hours longer, for now.  
I'm sorry to say that you won't be able to see him right now, but I can pull some strings so he might be able to give you a call later today. I'm not promising anything though.” Grimes said, almost sounding apologetic. 

“Yea, do that” was all Daryl could muster out. 

After Daryl hung up the phone he sat on the bed just staring straight out at nothing for several minutes. 

He heard his door creak and looked over to see Paul standing in the doorway looking at him with sad eyes. 

Daryl felt a lump in his throat and tried desperately to swallow it down.  
He hid his face in his hands and took a few shaky breaths. 

He heard footsteps approach him and felt the bed shift when Paul sat down beside him. 

Suddenly he felt Paul snake his arms around Daryl, pulling him flush against himself.  
That was all it took for Daryl to brake down completely. 

******

Daryl felt stupid.  
He'd never broken down like that in front of anyone before.  
And definitely not while he were held by someone.  
He usually didn't like being cuddled with.  
But strangely enough he felt good in Paul's arms, and that confused him. 

“Are you ok?” Paul asked with a soft voice, Paul's breath ghosted over Daryl's neck, sending shivers down his spine. 

“Yea.” He answered with a thick voice.  
He swallowed and continued.  
“M’ sorry for breaking down like that.” 

Paul snorted a laugh and started to run his hands up and down Daryl's back. 

“No need to apologize. Again. I get it, he's your brother. Of course you're going the get upset by him getting locked up.” 

Daryl shifted a little, so he was able to look at Paul.  
He studied his face. His gaze drifting to his jaw, where he could se the partial hidden bruise.  
It had shifted from red to a more black and blue color during the night.  
He hadn't seen Pauls back,but he was sure it was littered with bruises too.  
His heart sank at the mental image.

“He's everything I have. I hate him more often than not, but he's still my brother, y’know.” Daryl said. “It doesn't excuse what he did to ya though.” 

Paul smiled at him and kissed him on top of his head and then rested his head on Daryl's. 

“I understand. It's ok. Family is family.”

They sat like that for a while, enjoying the closeness of each other. 

“I'm not going to press charges” Paul said breaking the silence. 

“No?” Daryl said looking up at him. “Rick said they'd found new evidence. So it's not gonna help much.” 

Paul shrugged.  
“Maybe, but it won't be my fault anyway.” 

A buzzing sound where heard from Paul's front pocket.  
And Paul let go of Daryl to reach down. 

“It's a friend. Is it ok if I take this?”

Daryl nodded at him and laid down on the bed with his arm covering his eyes.  
He felt exhausted. 

******

He must've drifted off while Paul were on the phone, because after what felt like two minutes Paul entered his bedroom again. 

“Hey, I'm sorry but I need to go.  
My friend needs my help with something.” 

Daryl looked up at from under his arm, and nodded to him. 

“I've left my number on the counter in the kitchen. Call me anytime. I really want to see you again, ok?” 

“Yea, sure.” Daryl said. 

Paul walked over to Daryl and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before walking out. 

When he heard the front door shut he were left with a strange feeling of loneliness. 

He tried to shrug the strange feeling off, and got comfortable on the bed once again.

He were about to drift off again when he heard his phone buzz for the second time that day. 

He picked up the phone and answered before checking the caller id. 

“Yea?” He said.

“Hello lill brother! How are ya!” Came Merle's voice from the other end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was surprisingly hard to write, but with some great help and feedback from a friend I got it done! 
> 
> I've never written love scenes before, so I'm starting slowly! 
> 
> I really hope you liked this chapter! 
> 
> I love your comments! :)


	5. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting this were I left it!

“Hello lill brother! How are ya!” 

Daryl was stunned. Even though Grimes had told him Merle might be giving him a call, he wasn't counting on it.  
Given Merle wasn't know for his good behavior. 

“I-I'm good” Daryl stammered.  
“How're ya? They treatin’ ya good?” 

He heard Merle chuckle on the other end. 

“Can't complain. Officer friendly s’ treating me real good! Even give me my own cell!” Merle said. Daryl could hear the smug smile in Merle's voice. “And that's something to brag about!” 

“Good. M’ happy for ya!” Daryl said sarcastically. “Any news? Do ya know when they're letting ya out?” 

Daryl wasn't in the mood for small talk. And he didn't know how long time Merle had on the phone.  
So he figured he'd go with an direct approach. 

“Cutting directly to the case huh?” Merle said. “Alright. Don't know how much officer friendly told ya, but they found the stash I had on me.  
And since it's not the first time they've found dope on me they're not as nice this time around.” 

Daryl dropped his head in his hand and exhaled, exhaustion running through every fiber off his being. 

“How long?” He asked. 

“Huh?” Merle said. 

“For how long are they locking ya up this time?!” Daryl snapped. 

“Geese! Take it easy!” Merle said. “Two years, maybe less. They haven't decided yet. Might be more if your lover boy decides to press charges! Fucken pansy!” 

Daryl snapped up at Merle's statement about Paul. 

“He's not going to press charges.” Daryl said in a strained voice. 

Merle snorted a laugh.  
“How do ya know that?” He said, voice dripping with acid. 

“He told me.” 

“Since when do ya hang out with people that tries ta rape ya little brother?” 

“He didn't rape me!” Daryl blurted out. 

“Sure as hell looked like it, having his hands all over ya. He's tongue was so deep down your throat, he was fucken choking ya! Disgusting!  
I know I said ya were as bad as him, that ya liked it in the ass. I'm sorry about that. Got wired up…”

Daryl was growing tired of Merle's ranting.  
Maybe he should just tell him and see what happens? If Merle was going to be locked up anyway, it couldn't hurt.  
But then again he didn't want to destroy what little family he had left.

“Ya hear me Daryl?! It's fucken wrong! God fucken created a man and a woman for it to be that way! Not…”

“I kissed him!” Daryl blurted out before thinking. 

As soon as he said it his blood ran cold.  
‘What the fuck did he just do?!’ 

“What did ya say? Why?” Merle all but roared on the other end. 

“I did it.” Daryl exhaled.  
He felt good and terrified at the same time. 

“What like a onetime thing? To try it out?” 

Daryl almost laughed out loud at that.  
“No. M’ gay Merle.” 

Daryl's heart was beating hard and fast in his chest.  
He was certain Merle could hear it through the other end. 

“No! No!! No yer not!” Merle exclaimed. “Yer not. I've seen ya fuck girls. Why the fuck would ya lie ta me!” 

“M’ not lying. M’ gay. Always been. I just fucked those chicks ta shut ya up!” Daryl almost shouted.

“What the fuck!? Ya disgusting faggot! Yer not my brother anymore!  
Wait until I get out of here, I'll fucken kill ya.  
I got people on the outside too ya know, just wait until they find out about ya and yer fucken boyfriend!  
Ya hear me faggot!!” 

Daryl couldn't listen to Merle anymore. He ended the call and tossed his phone on the bed.  
Merle's voice kept ringing in his head like a sick mantra.  
‘Ya hear me faggot!’

He needed air. He needed to get out of here. 

He grabbed his crossbow and stomped out of the trailer and walked towards the woods.

******

When Daryl were walking back to the trailer the sun was hanging low on the sky, casting pink and purple lights through the leaves in the forest. 

Daryl had been walking around for about four hours.  
He'd caught a rabbit an hour after he began walking, and since he hadn't felt ready to walk home so soon, he'd just skinned and cooked it over an open fire out in the woods. 

He had always liked it out here.  
It was the first place he'd run to whenever his father felt the urge to put him in his place, and kick him around for stuff he hadn't done.  
It always gave him peace of mind.  
And boy did he need it now! 

The four hours walking around hadn't helped much to ease his mind though.  
The brief conversation with his brother spinning around in his head on repeat.  
‘I got people on the outside too ya know!’ 

He wondered if that was an empty threat or if Merle actually would send his friends to beat him up.  
Or worse!  
What if they found Paul!  
He didn't want Paul to get hurt further for something Daryl had done. 

“Fuck!!” Daryl yelled, and kicked at a fallen branch lying on the ground.  
He heard a sharp ‘smack’ when it hit a nearby tree. 

He let his crossbow fall on the ground with a small thud and sat down on the ground leaning his back against a tree.  
He let his head fall backwards and closed his eyes. 

His feelings were all over the place.  
The worry he had about Merle and the confusion about whatever he felt for Paul.  
Whenever he thought about the man his heart sped up and butterflies erupted in his stomach.  
He'd never felt like that about anyone before!  
And it confused him.  
How was it that Paul managed to nestle his way in to Daryl's head like that? 

To say the least, his head was a mess!  
And he had little hope to sort it out right now.  
If walking through the woods didn't help, nothing would. 

He sighed and opened his eyes.  
The sun was setting and it was getting darker by the minute.  
He had no problem navigating through the woods in the dark, but since he still felt slightly hungover he didn't feel like it. 

He took a deep breath, grabbed his crossbow who were lying by his feet, got up from the ground and walked slowly back to the trailer.

******

When he got back to the trailer it was pitch black outside.  
He opened the door, got inside and flung his crossbow off his shoulder to put it on the kitchen counter.  
He opened the fridge and grabbed a can of beer since it was the only thing he had worth drinking that wasn't water. He really didn't feel like drinking moonshine, didn't think his already upset stomach would agree with that at all. 

He opened the beer and was about to take a sip from it when he glanced down at his crossbow. 

That was when he noticed a pice of paper underneath it.  
He slid the paper out from under the crossbow to look at it.  
‘Call me when you've sorted your thoughts out. I really want to see you again - Paul’  
And a number were scribbled at the paper. 

He was really tempted to give him a call, but he wasn't sure about what he was going to say.  
His head still a mess and all. 

And since his brother had friends he was sure was going to back him up as soon as the word about Daryl got out on the outside, he wasn't sure he should have any contact with Paul at all.

Mind made up he glanced at the number on the paper one more time before he crumbled it up in his hand and threw it back on the counter. 

The best thing he could do was to forget about Paul all together.

Daryl felt his stomach drop at the thought, but shook it off as he walked to his bedroom.  
He was sure he would feel a lot better after some sleep. 

******

As the days went by Daryl tried his best to keep himself occupied.  
And that was surprisingly hard to do!

Grimes had called back two days after the conversation he'd have with Merle, to tell him that Merle were facing a two years sentence for possession of heavy narcotics. 

With Merle not around there wasn't anyone who bugged him to do stuff. No one to drag him out for drinks or make him tag along to work on some random job Merle used to fish up.  
‘Gotta make some cash right?’  
He used to say.  
Merle not being one for the nine to five jobs.

For the first week all Daryl had been doing was either hunt or make new arrows for his crossbow.

After that he'd began to feel restless and antsy.  
He tried to clean the trailer.  
After throwing away all the garbage and wiping down the kitchen he came to the conclusion that it was a loss cause.  
The trailer wasn't going to look any better than this. 

A few more days passed and Daryl was literally climbing the walls.  
Nothing he normally did when Merle was away worked! 

He walked to the fridge and swung the door open in aggregation, making a few beer cans fall to the floor.  
He sighed and bent down to pick them up. 

One of the beer cans had rolled under the kitchen counter, so he fell down to his knees to reach for it.  
When he grabbed the pesky can he saw a crumbled ball of paper laying behind it.  
Ha grabbed the paper ball too and got up from the floor. 

When he looked a little closer at the paper ball his heart started to beat harder in his chest.  
It was the note Paul had left for him almost two weeks prior. 

He'd been thinking about Paul almost every day, even though he'd been trying really hard not to.  
But his mind had a tendency to wander off on it's own, and his brain had decided that Paul was something it wanted to think about.

Usually he wondered how he was doing or what he was doing.  
But more recently he'd beer thinking more and more about when he'd woken up with Paul sprawled over himself, which led him to think about how they ended up in that position.  
That thought always left him feeling hot and bothered, making him desperate for a cold shower to cool off. 

He put his beer down on the counter and opened up the ball of paper, looking at the number at the bottom of the note he felt tempted to actually give him a call.  
But quickly shoot that thought down, convincing himself it wasn't worth it.  
Paul had probably forgotten all about him anyway. 

Feeling restless again he shoved the pice of paper down in his back-pocket, grabbed his beer and walked out of the trailer. 

He opened his beer and sat down on one of the rusty garden chairs he had beside the front door of the trailer.  
He and Merle used to sit there and whittle arrows when it was to hot to be inside.

He reached for his cigarette package in his front-pocket.  
He’d found it under a pile of trash while he was cleaning the trailer.  
One of the good things that'd come out of his restlessness. 

He put a cigarette between his lips and lighted it, taking deep calming breath.

******  
He must've have dozed off after finishing his cigarette, the sound of a car driving nearby shaking him awake. 

With a hand shielding his eyes against the bright evening sun, he studied the approaching car  
He didn't recognize it, but then again, he hadn't seen all of Merle's friends vehicles.  
He tried to see who the driver was, but the the sun were reflecting the windows, making it impossible to see through them.

As the car drove in towards Daryl's trailer, parking a few feet away from him.  
He stood up and waited for the visitor to get out.  
He tensed when he heard the car door open, ready to strike if needed to. 

He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw who slowly was making his way over to him. 

“Paul?” Daryl breathed.  
He was dreaming for sure. He was still sleeping and this was a dream! Right? 

“Hey Daryl” Paul said when he was standing right in front of him. 

Paul was wearing his hair down, almost looking golden in the evening sunlight.  
He wore a black leather trench coat, with a white dress shirt underneath and dark blue jeans.  
The previous bruising on his chin had almost faded completely, the slightly yellow mark was hardly visible trough his beard. 

Daryl couldn't stop staring at the guy.  
The only thing he kept thinking was how beautiful he looked in the sunlight.  
Cursing the sappy thought right afterwards, but it didn't make it less true. 

“You haven't called me.” Paul said, making Daryl wake up from his trance. “I was getting worried. Thought something happened to you.” 

Daryl cleared his throat and looked away from Paul's intensive eyes to be able to form a coherent sentence. 

“I ehh..” He started.  
‘Very intelligent!’ He snapped at himself in his mind.  
He cleared his throat again and tried a second time. 

“M’ sorry. I've been having a lot my mind.” He said. It wasn't a direct lie.  
He'd been having a lot on his mind. But it wasn't the main reason for not calling Paul. 

“I understand.” Paul said. 

They fell silent. Daryl kept staring out in the distance, but he could feel Paul's gaze on him.  
It made butterflies in his stomach erupt and flutter uncontrollably. 

“What have you been up to?” Paul asked, breaking the silence. 

Daryl snapped his eyes back to Paul.  
He had a small smile on his lips.  
Daryl's gaze landed on his lips, remembering how it felt like to kiss them, the feeling of Paul's tongue lightly gracing Daryl's bottom lip. 

Daryl felt his face heat up at the vivid memories playing in his mind.  
Trying to get ahold of himself before he embarrassed himself he cleared his throat before answering. 

“Been thinkin’ a lot.” Daryl said. He started to walk back to the garden chair and sat down. 

“About what?” Paul asked, following him and took a seat in the chair next to Daryl. 

Daryl though for a while. He wasn't sure about how much he wanted to tell Paul.  
He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Paul anything.  
He didn't know the guy.  
But then again, Paul had been with him when he'd broke down in his bedroom.  
He knew a little about Merle, so he guessed he could tell him about that at least.

“You don't need to tell me anything if you don't want to.” Paul said, probably sensing Daryl's inner battle. 

“Been thinkin’ bout Merle mostly.” He said, Leaning back into the chair, making it groan slightly.  
“They've locked him up.” 

“I'm sorry.” Paul said quietly. 

Daryl hummed and folded his arms behind his head, shifting slightly to get more comfortable. 

“S’ ok I guess.” Daryl said. 

Paul gave Daryl a short nod.  
“How long will he be gone?” He asked. 

“Two years at least.” 

Paul raised his brows in slight shock.  
“What for?” He asked. 

“Possession of drugs.” Daryl sighed.  
He unfolded his arms, leaned forward slightly and looked at Paul.  
“Not the first time he carries that shit around. The cops weren't as nice this time around.” 

“Makes sense I guess.” Paul said and turned in his seat to be able to look directly at Daryl.  
“I'm really sorry though.” 

Paul leaned forward and placed his hand on Daryl's knee.  
Daryl tensed a little at the touch, Paul's warmth seeping through the denim.  
He's breathing sped up slightly. It was something about this guy touching him that made funny things to his body.  
Hell it was something about this guy just looking at him that made funny things to his body.

Daryl swallowed once before answering.  
“Don't need to be. S’ better for him to be gone.” Daryl said. “At least for now.” 

“Ok?” Paul said. “What do you mean?” 

Daryl laughed bitterly. “Guess I'm out of the closet.” 

Paul dropped his hand from Daryl leg.  
“Well he saw us kissing…” He said slowly. 

“Yea, but that's not all. Merle blamed ya for it.” He looked down at the ground before he continued. “I got pissed at him for blaming ya, so I told him I did it. And then… Then I just said it! I just told him that I'm gay! Just like that!” 

He dropped his head in his hands and groaned.. 

“Oh!” Was all Paul said. 

“Yea.” Daryl breathed between his hands. 

“I have a feeling he didn't take it too well?” Paul joked. 

Daryl laughed again and shook his head.  
“Nah. He said he was going to kill me.” Daryl turned his head to look at Paul. “He said he was going to kill ya too. Said he had people on the outside. So nah. Not that good.” 

Daryl laughed again and Paul joined in with a small laugh of his own. 

“Yeah, sounds like you've had a lot to think about.” Paul said. 

“Yea. Sorry for not calling ya though.” Daryl said. 

“It's ok. I just got worried.I thought that you didn't want to talk to me. That you wasn't interested.” Paul looked a little nervous. 

Daryl felt sorry for the guy. Sure he'd been trying not to think about him, and failing miserably.  
But it had been for Paul's own good.  
For not to get Paul hurt, if Merle was going to act on his promise. 

“Wasn't why I didn't call ya. Just, had a lot to think about.” 

“I know that now.” Paul said, smiling at him.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun set behind the trees.  
Suddenly Paul's phone buzzed once.  
Paul reached for it and looked down at the screen. 

“My friend Tara is having a party tonight.” He said still looking at the phone. 

“Aha.” Daryl said. 

“Yeah, she's asking me to come. It's in an hour or so, a last minute thing.” 

“Yer going then?” Daryl asked, voice almost revealing his disappointment.  
He didn't want Paul to leave.

“I'm thinking about it, but I don't want to go alone.” Paul said looking over at Daryl.  
“You want to come with me?” 

Daryl was taken aback by the sudden question.  
He wanted to spend time with Paul, but he didn't know how he felt about going to a house full of other people. 

“I don't know.” He said. 

“Come on! Please. I don't know half of the people that's going to be there, and I would feel so much better if you were there with me.” 

Paul looked at him with big pleading eyes.  
Those hypnotizing eyes.  
The fucker didn't play nice. Not nice at all!  
He felt his body flush all over and his heart thumped hard in his chest. 

Paul's smiling face turned serious and he started to lean towards Daryl, licking his lips.  
Daryl's eyes dropped down to Pauls lips at the movement of his tongue.  
Daryl leaned forward, meting Paul's lips halfway. 

It was a sweet closemouthed kiss.  
Slow but still passionate.  
It made Daryl's head spin. Sparks ran through his body, making him shiver slightly.  
Daryl though it was over way to fast, and whined slightly when Paul backed away.  
He heard Paul chuckle and felt his face heat up even more, feeling embarrassed by himself. 

“Ok.” He said after he'd got his head to work properly again. 

“What?” Paul said, looking slightly dazed himself. 

“I said ok. I'm coming with ya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, first of all I want to tell you that I have no idea how the American police works, or police in general.  
> I'm just writing so it fits my story.  
> It's fiction after all. 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter! :) 
> 
> Comments make me happy!


	6. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl meets some of Paul's friends!

“So how do you know this girl?” Daryl asks breaking the silence. 

They were in Paul's car on their way to Tara's apparent.   
They've been driving for about thirty minutes, and they hadn't talked since they left the trailer park.   
Daryl hadn't any problems with silence usually, but the silence between him and Paul was making him uncomfortable.  
The atmosphere was almost vibrating, and it was making Daryl nervous and excited at the same time.   
So he felt obligated to brake the silence with something, and nagging like a child by saying “are we there yet” every five seconds wasn't something he wanted to do, so Tara was the best thing he came to think off. 

“Who? Tara?” Paul asked. 

“Yea! Her. Ya known her for a long time?” 

“Yeah, I have. I've known her since I moved here, so about five years now.” Paul said with a thoughtful look in his face. “I met her through Aaron and Eric, you know the guys I was with that night at the bar?” 

Daryl hummed softly as a response. He had a vague memory of two guys standing with Paul, he knew one of them had talked with him at the parking lot that night. 

“Yeah, we started talking a lot and it turned out that we have lot in common. So we became very close very fast. She's a really good friend.” 

“Sounds nice.” Daryl said. 

“It is.” Paul said looking at Daryl from the corner of his eye. “Do you have any closer friends?” 

Daryl though about how to answer that question without it sounding too sad. But then again, Paul knew stuff about him he'd never shared with anyone before. So he decided to tell him the truth, no matter how sad it sounded.   
“Nah, the closest I have to a friend is my brother.” He said. “I used to hang out with his friends, not alone though. My brother would always be with us.” 

Paul shoot him a apologetic look before he focused on the road again. 

“I'm sorry.” He said. 

“Don't be. I prefer being alone anyway.” He said waving it of. “Much easier, no one to stab ya in the back.” 

“That's true I guess.” Paul said with a small shrug. 

Silence fell over them once more as they got closer to Tara's home. 

******

Daryl followed Paul from the parking lot to the apartment building were Tara lived.   
It was a three story building in what seemed like a nice quiet neighborhood.  
Daryl though that in a parallel universe he might want to live there. 

They walked in through the entrance door and then he followed Paul up three flights of stairs.   
Paul stopped in front of a door with a huge sign that read “welcome” on it. Daryl were standing slightly behind him.   
He were nervous, his palms were sweaty and his heart thumped hard and fast in his chest.   
Maybe it was a mistake coming here?  
Paul's friends wouldn't like him anyway, he thought to himself. 

His self loathing thoughts came to a halt when Paul knocked at the door.   
After a few seconds a girl opened the door. 

“Jesus! I'm so glad you’re here!” She exclaimed cheerily. “Abe has claimed the new couch for himself, so you have to sit on the old one. I hope you like having springs poking your ass because that's what you're gonna get!” 

“I'm really happy to see you too Tara!” Paul laughed and hugged the brunette. 

Tara's eyes landed on Daryl who were still hiding behind Paul. 

“Who's this?” She asked when she released Paul from the hug, nodding towards Daryl. 

Paul turned towards Daryl and motioned at him to walk forward. 

“This is Daryl. A new friend of mine.” Paul said with a smile. 

Daryl walked up and stood next to Paul, still feeling slightly out of place. 

“Hi Daryl!” Tara said. Giving Paul a meaning look while holding out a hand to greet Daryl. 

Paul just shrugged, but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes.   
Daryl who didn't know what to make of the pairs unspoken conversation, decided to not interfere and took Tara's hand to shake it. 

“Come in!” Tara said when she'd released Daryl's hand. “My neighbors will go crazy if we hang out here for much longer. Especially the old hag across the hall!” 

“She's still alive?” Paul asked when they walked over the threshold.   
Daryl walked in last and closed the door after them.

The hallway was quite small, but long.   
There was a coat hanger right by the door, a large mirror on the wall and two chairs on each side by it.   
Soft music could be heard from the living room, as well as laughing and enthusiastic conversations.   
Daryl was getting more nervous by the minute. 

“Yeah! I can't believe it either.” Tara answered with a laugh while walking into the kitchen. “Everybody’s here already.”

“Ok. Who's here then?” Paul asked as he took his coat off and hung it over one of the chairs and walked after her, waving at Daryl to follow.

Tara took out a few beer bottles from the fridge, handed Paul and Daryl one each. 

“Rosita is here with Abraham and Maggie came here with Glenn.” She said while taking a swig from her own bottle.  
“I invited Carol and Eugene too, but Carol’s stuck at work and Eugene got stuck playing a computer game. He said something about needing to evolve.   
Oh and Aaron and Eric couldn't make it because Eric got sick and Aaron wanted to take care of him.” 

Paul laughed and opened his beer.   
“Sounds like Eugene. Too bad about carol though. And I really hope Eric feels better soon.  
Should call them tomorrow and ask how he feels.” 

Tara nodded and eyed Daryl.   
“How did you two meet?” She asked.

Daryl cleared his throat and glanced at Paul.   
“We met in a bar.” Daryl said and opened his beer, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. 

He took a few large gulps from his beer, hoping for the alcohol to make him feel more relaxed.

“Yeah.” He heard Paul say. “It was that night I hung out with Aaron and Eric.” 

Daryl wiped his mouth with his hand and stared at Paul. 

“We kind of hit it off, so I followed him home.” Paul continued.

“How come I haven't heard about him until now?” Tara said eyes darting from Daryl to Paul. 

Paul shrugged, taking another sip from his beer.   
“Must've slipped my mind”

Daryl didn't know what to say. He could tell Paul was avoiding going into any details, probably for his sake. 

Daryl was about to say something when a large crash was heard from the other room.   
Both Daryl and Paul jumped and turned towards the noise.

“Damnit Abe!!” Came a high pitched scream. 

Tara ran out of the kitchen towards the living room.   
“What did he break this time!?” 

Paul looked at Daryl with big eyes. He was biting his lower lip, trying desperately not to laugh. 

“what's so funny?” Daryl asked, feeling a smile tugging in his lip just by looking at Paul. 

Paul shook his head in amusement.   
“Abe is kind of a big guy. When he drinks he gets clumsy.   
Let's say it's not the first time he's broken something. And his timing is perfect!” Paul said with laughter in his voice.

Daryl chuckled a little and looked down at his now half empty beer.   
He takes a few more sips from it and then turns his head to look at Paul again. 

Paul's head is facing the voices coming from the living room.  
Daryl clears his throat again, trying to get Paul's attention.   
It works and Paul looks at Daryl. 

“Something bothering you?” He asked looking concerned. 

“Nah, not really.” Daryl said. “M’ just curious to why ya haven't told Tara about my brother?” 

Paul shrugs and shifts to lean against the kitchen table behind him.   
“Haven't really come up. Not yet anyway. And I'm not going to talk to her about it today, it's not really a party convention.” He said. 

“Guess not. But if ya haven't told her to spare my feelings or somethin’ like that, don't bother.” Daryl said looking Paul directly in the eyes. 

“I haven't.” Paul said smiling at Daryl. “I will eventually, just not right now. Anyway, let's talk about this another time. How about we introduce you to the rest of the guys!?” 

Not letting Daryl answer the question, Paul pushed himself off of the table and took Daryl hand, leading him out of the kitchen towards the living room. 

When they walked into the room they saw Tara and another girl picking up books from the floor, and an Asian guy picking up shards from a broken cat statute that were shattered in several pieces on the floor.   
There was a huge red haired guy with a large mustache sitting in the couch nursing a beer with a frown on his face.   
Daryl's best guess was that that was Abraham.  
There was something about the scene of the large guy sitting there on the couch sulking that Daryl found hilarious, and he had to bite his lip hard not to burst into a fit of laughter. 

Another girl were sitting next to the sulking redhead. She were staring the redhead down with a large scowl on her face. 

“I'm guessing this mess is the courtesy of Abe?” Paul asked the Asian guy. 

The Asian guy stopped picking up shards to look up at Paul.  
“Yep! I swear, when he drinks he's clumsier then an elephant in an porcelain store!” 

“I'm not!” Abraham cut in. “The floor’s tilting over there.” 

“Yeah right!” The Asian said shaking his head in amusement. His eyes landed on Daryl who were standing right next to Paul.  
His eyes dropped down a little and landed on Paul's and Daryl's still entwined hands.   
Daryl saw what he was looking at and let go of Paul's hand, he felt his face heat up and it didn't get better when he saw the amused smirk the Asian was sporting. 

“Who is he?” He asked Paul.

Daryl looked from the Asian guy to the other people in the room and saw what he'd expected, all eyes were on him.   
He swallowed hard and tried to breathe calmly trough his nose.   
He looked over at Paul and focused at him and tried to push down the feeling he had to run away and hide. 

“This is Daryl!” Paul said putting a hand on Daryl's shoulder. “Daryl, this is Glenn” he said with a gesture to the Asian guy on the floor.   
“The girl next to Tara is Glenn’s girlfriend Maggie.” 

Maggie waved and smiled warmly at him.   
Paul continued the introduction by gesturing to the couch.   
“The big guy on the couch is Abraham, but I'm guessing you've already guessed that on your own. And the angry girl beside him is Rosita.” 

There were a round of greetings from the group and Daryl nodded towards them before he looked at Paul again.  
Paul grabbed hold of his arm and walked with him to the other couch and sat down. 

******

The evening went on whiteout any other incidents. Abraham stayed put on the couch and Rosita watched him closely. 

Tara had put out several bottles of wine and beer on the coffee table for everyone to drink.   
Daryl picked up a bottle of wine and looked at it, studying the label of it.   
It was a red bottle with cherries on the label. Paul leaned forward looking over Daryl's shoulder.   
“That's cherry wine!” He said happily.

Daryl looked at him over his shoulder with a confused look on his face.   
“Ya like this shit?” He asked. 

Paul shrugged a little and nodded.   
“Sometimes. Depending on my mood.” 

“Looks disgusting!” Daryl said and held out the bottle to study the color of the liquid before putting it down on the table again. 

“It's quite good actually. Sweet.”   
Paul smiled sweetly at him and leaned in further to rest his head against Daryl's shoulder. 

Daryl felt his heart start to thump faster in his chest. Paul felt warm agains him and it felt really good to be this close to him.   
“So for how long have you two been an item?” Came Abe's loud voice form the other couch. 

Daryl snapped his eyes towards the big redhead.   
“Ehh… We ain't…” Daryl started. 

“Come on! Anyone with a working set of eyes can tell you two are together. Or at least interested in each other.” Abraham interrupted. 

“We just met Abe. Like two weeks ago.” Paul cut in. 

Abraham scoffed and went back to nursing what Daryl thought was Abraham’s fifth beer since Daryl sat down.   
“Well you look like two lovesick teenagers.” He muttered under his breath. 

Daryl felt a twinge of anger towards the big guy. But chose to let it go. Causing a scene here with one of Paul's friends didn't sound to smart. 

“Ignore him.” Paul said quietly in his ear, making Daryl shiver slightly when he felt Paul's breath ghost over his ear and neck. 

******

“It's getting late. We should get going.” Glenn said after a few hours. 

“What time is it?” Rosita asked fumbling with her phone, trying to get it to unlock. 

“Like 3am?” Glenn answered her standing up from the floor and held out a hand to help Maggie up too. 

“Yeah. Maybe we should go too.” Rosita said and looked over at the very intoxicated redhead half asleep on the couch. 

“I'm calling a cab and we'll help you get him down later.” Maggie said walking to the kitchen dialing the number to a cab company.

“Is everybody leaving me now?!” Tara complained. “The night is still young! Come on people!” 

“We can stay.” Paul said.   
Daryl looked at him. “I mean, if you're ok with it of course. I'm just thinking it would be more comfortable for me to be able to drive you home in the morning instead of having to take a cab now and then walk here to pick my car up tomorrow.” 

Daryl looked at Paul then down at his hands when he thought about it.   
It did make sense to stay the night.   
And even though he wasn't feeling that comfortable around other people, Tara seemed nice.   
And he wasn't ready to part from Paul any time soon anyway.   
“If ya want to we can stay.” He said then. 

Paul looked wide eyed at him.   
“You sure?” 

“Yea! Got free beer right here! I ain't complainin’!” Daryl said with a smirk. 

“Ok then! Great!” Tara beamed.   
“I have a guest room just down the hall, next to the bathroom. You guys can sleep there, or on the couch I don't care.” 

The sleeping butterflies in Daryl's stomach woke up at the thought of him and Paul sleeping in the same bed together, maybe doing other things then just sleeping?  
He mentally kicked himself for thinking the last thought, downing the last of his beer and began on a new one trying to calm his nerves down. 

“The cab will be here in five minutes.” Maggie said walking into the room.   
“We should really get him ready.” She said looking at the now sleeping Abraham. 

“How many of us will it take to get him down the stairs?” Glenn asked looking worriedly over at Maggie and Rosita. 

“Me and Daryl might be able to get him down. If you assist on carrying his legs if we need it.” Paul said looking at Glenn. 

“I can help Glenn with the legs, I know he'll need it.” Rosita said and stood up. 

With that settled Paul and Daryl got up and lifted up the quite heavy sleeping guy and carried him - by flinging his arms around their shoulders while they held him by the waist – down the three flights of stairs, down to the parking lot where the cab was waiting.   
It wasn't easy but they did it without incident.   
They waved the party off when the cab drove off and walked back to Tara's apartment. 

******

Around 5am Tara slurred that she was going to bed. She could barely walk straight and held on to the wall for support when she walked towards her bedroom.   
“Good night!” She called and closed the door behind her. 

“I'm guessing we should go to bed too then.” Paul said and tried to get up from where he was leaning on the armrest of the couch. 

“Guess so.” Daryl said and helped Paul up to a seating position. 

When Daryl stood up he accidentally knocked down a bottle with his hand so it fell on the floor.   
He bent down to pick it up, and when he saw what bottle it was he frowned in disgust. 

“I can't believe ya actually drank all this.” He said to Paul and held out the now empty bottle of cherry wine for Paul to look at before he placed it on the table again. 

“I was in the mood for it tonight.” He said with a grin. He got up and started to walk towards the guest room. 

He halted and turned around to look at Daryl who were still standing by the couch. 

“Are you coming?” He asked. 

Daryl fidgeted a little with his hands and looked down at the litter of bottles on the table.   
He really wanted to go with Paul but he hadn't been sure if Paul wanted to sleep in the same bed as him. 

“Ya want me to? Because I can sleep on the couch instead.” He said nervously. 

“Don't be stupid. Of course I want you to come with me.” Paul said with a small amused smile. 

Daryl walked slowly towards Paul, when he was beside him Paul took his hand in his and lead the way toward the room. 

It was a really small room, just a bed and two nightstands on each side of the bed. But the bed seemed comfortable, and that was all he really cared about right now. 

“Did you have fun tonight?” Paul asked while he sat down on the bed. 

“Yea, it was alright. Yer friends seem nice.” He said and sat down beside Paul. 

“They're really special if anything else!” Paul laughed.   
“But they seemed to like you.”   
He looked straight into Daryl's eyes when he finished the sentence. 

It felt like the earth stopped moving when he looked into those impossibly green eyes.   
Daryl's heart stopped for a brief moment and then speed up in his chest.   
His buzzed up brain felt more foggy then before, and he blamed Paul entirely for that. 

Paul's amused expression turned serious and he wetted his lips with his tongue.   
Daryl's eyes dropped down to Paul's lips.  
The thought of him kissing Paul went through his mind and before he knew of he leaned in to kiss Paul on the lips, his slightly drunken brain apparently giving him more courage than he had before.  
It started out as chastise, but soon enough Daryl wanted more.  
He grabbed Paul's hair, entwining it with his fingers and pulled him closer. 

He felt Paul moan against his mouth. Using that as an opportunity to deepen the kiss. He plunged his tongue into Paul's mouth groaning at the feeling of Paul tongue tangling with his own.   
He tasted like that awful cherry whine he'd been drinking earlier, but right now it was the best thing Daryl had ever tasted. 

He could feel Paul's hands creeping up against his back and started tugging slightly at his shirt. He broke the kiss and looked Daryl in the eyes.   
“I want this off.” Paul said breathlessly and lifted Daryl shirt up slightly, exposing his stomach. 

Daryl paused in his movements.   
It was quite dark in the room and since they were facing each other he didn't think Paul would be able to see the mess that was his back.   
It wasn't that he was ashamed about his scars or anything - They weren't pretty but he couldn't do anything about them – but he had other things in mind right now then talk about his fathers abusive behavior towards him. 

“Alright.” Daryl said and lifted himself up so he was standing on his knees.   
Paul got up in a sitting position and gripped the hem of Daryl's shirt and were slowly lifting it up, exposing Daryl's naked stomach and chest.   
Daryl helped Paul slide his shirt off by lifting if over his head and dropped it on the floor next to the bed. 

Paul slid his hands across Daryl's chest down to his stomach.   
Daryl watched him as he studied his now naked torso, suddenly feeling a little unsure and self conscious.   
The man in front of him was much leaner than him.   
As if he was feeling Daryl self doubt Paul looked up at Daryl's face and smiled.   
“You are perfect.” He said while putting his arms around Daryl's neck and kissed him. 

Daryl shifted slightly and parted his legs so Paul was able to get in between them.   
Paul laid down and slid his hands down to Daryl's shoulders, pulling Daryl down so he was lying on top of Paul.   
Daryl let out a surprised gasp breaking them apart, but didn't object otherwise.  
Paul started to nibble slightly at Daryl's bottom lip, making him groan and bent his head down slightly and captured Paul's lips once more. 

They kissed heavily for a few minutes, their tongues battling for dominance.   
The only sound that was heard was their heavy breathing and small moans every time their clothed semi-hard erections were accidentally rubbed together. 

Daryl broke the kiss for some much needed air. He heard Paul mutter something under his breath, then he started to kiss and nibble at Daryl's jaw and throat.   
Daryl's breath hitched when he felt Paul lick on his collarbone and then bite down at it gently. 

Daryl's hips started to move slightly forward on their own accord, making his erection rub down directly on Paul's.   
They both gasped at the feeling of it.   
Daryl was incredibly hard and leaking at this point and he could feel the stiffest of Paul's own erection clearly through his pants.  
The feeling of it turned him on even more. 

“Do that again.” Paul said breathlessly. 

Daryl grounded his hips down one more time, gasping again at the feeling of the much needed friction.  
He wanted to feel more of Paul and he wasn't completely comfortable be the position they were in now, so tugged at him making them roll over so Paul was on top of him instead.   
He raked his hands across Paul's chest and stomach, enjoying the feeling of the lean muscles under his thin dress shirt. 

“Your turn.” Daryl said with a smug smile tugging on his lips. 

Paul chuckled a little and got up on his knees, he unbuttoned his shirt and dropped it on the floor next to the bed. 

Daryl took in the sight of the now shirtless man above him.   
The word beautiful popped up in his head again, maybe not that accurate but it was the only word to really describe this man.   
Daryl raised his hand and dragged it from Paul's chest down to his stomach.   
The feeling of the warm flesh against his palm sending shivers through his body. 

Paul leaned down to capture Daryl's lips again, and the taller man responded enthusiastically.   
Paul started to grind himself against Daryl in a small rhythm, making Daryl rake his blunt fingernails down Paul's back, leaving thin red trails.   
He could feel Paul shiver, it egged Daryl on and did it again. 

Paul broke the kiss and trailed kisses from Daryl's jaw down to his neck. His grinding got fiercer making Daryl lift his hips slightly of the mattress to meet his movements. 

“God!” Daryl gasped.  
He thought he could hear Paul chuckle again, but he wasn't sure and he didn't care right now.  
His head felt foggy and the air around them was hot and heavy.  
The only thought he had in his head was how right this felt, to be with Paul this way. 

Paul lifted himself up on his elbows, his face hovering over Daryl's.   
He looked directly into Daryl eyes, pupils blown and his eyes were clouded with lust, and something more that Daryl couldn't read.   
Daryl lifted his head capturing Pauls lips for what it felt was the millionth time that night, his lips felt warm and swollen and he couldn't care less. 

Paul’s movements got fiercer and Daryl knew ha wasn't going to last much longer, getting closer and closer to the edge.  
He entwined his fingers in Paul's hair and pulled slightly.  
Paul got the message and broke the kiss, immediately attacking Daryl's earlobe instead, sucking and biting gently at it.   
That sent shivers from his spine down to his hard leaking cock. 

“Not gonna last.” Daryl gasped out. 

“It's ok.” Paul breathed in his ear.”I want you to come.” He bent down and bites down rather hard on a sensitive spot on Daryl's neck, timing it with a hard thrust with his hips. 

That was all it took for Daryl to tumble and fall over the edge.   
He clung on to Paul as he rode out one of the best orgasm he'd ever had.

He was vaguely aware of that Paul continued humping him and grunted out his orgasm as well a few seconds after him. 

Paul collapsed on top of him when he finished.   
They were both breathing hard as they came down from their highs, Paul shifted a little as he got comfortable on Daryl's chest.   
Daryl could feel the sticky mess of come slowly drying in his underwear and he knew that he should clean himself up, but he was too damn tired and comfortable to do anything about it. 

He held on to Paul and rolled them both so they were laying on their sides facing each other.   
He kissed Paul on the forehead and snuggled himself against his chest, Paul had his arm around Daryl's waist and were holding him tight against himself.   
And before he knew it he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!   
> I was so nervous about posting this chapter, because I've never written a love scene before.   
> And even if this isn't technically smut or a real love scene in still very nervous.   
> But anyway, I hope I didn't screw up too bad. 
> 
>  
> 
> I still like your comments and would greatly appreciate them. :)


	7. Closest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul and Daryl get even closer together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be smut in this chapter. Just a heads up! 
> 
> And im really sorry about the delay of this chapter, I've been having a lot of random shit happening in my life.   
> But I'm not giving this up.

He woke up to the sensation of what felt like a small man trying to drill his way though his scull. He groaned and folded his arm over his eyes, hoping for the pressure of his arm to hold his scull intact. Or hoping that it would at least help to ease the pain a bit. 

He felt someone shift beside him and felt that someone put a arm on his chest.   
He lifted his arm a little and looked down squinting, at the sleeping Paul by his side.   
He was sleeping soundly with his hair everywhere and slightly parted lips.   
He felt a warm feeling spread inside him by looking at the sleeping man, which was odd. At least for him. In every other occasion he would be out and running from his nightly partner by now. But he had no desire to do so this time. He kept looking at Paul and the more he did the warmer the feeling in his gut got, his heart thumped faster and his palms got sweaty. He'd heard about this phenomenon but he didn't think it'd happen to him. Maybe he was actually interested in this guy beyond a one night stand. What if he actually was beginning to fall for the guy?   
The realization struck him like a lightning bolt.   
He WAS falling for the guy!   
Now that he thought about it it was clear as day.   
Never before had he been shy around a guy. Sure he was socially awkward, but the shyness he'd been having around this guy was different than that.   
The want he'd felt for the guy was different to, like he couldn't stop thinking about how it was to kiss him, or feel him and even how it would feel like to run his fingers through his beard.   
So, what was it with this guy? What made him so special? 

The trail of Daryl's thoughts stopped as he felt Paul starting to stir beside him.   
He blinked and rubbed his eyes before he looked up at Daryl.   
“Good morning” he said smiling at Daryl. 

“Morning” Daryl said in a raspy voice. 

“Did you sleep ok?” Paul said sitting up a little to get more comfortable. 

“Yea. My head’s killing me though.” He said with a grimace. 

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” He said. “Shouldn't have taken that last glass of wine. I knew I would feel it today.” 

Daryl laughed at how pathetic Paul sounded when he complained.   
“Really easy to complain about it now.” He said with a crooked smile. 

“You're really cute when you smile.” Paul said extending his arm so he was able to trace Daryl's lips with his fingertips.  
“You should do it more.” 

Daryl was speechless. No one had ever given him a genuine compliment before. They used to call him a “good bitch” or something similar in the heat of the moment, but never something genuine. 

Paul continued tracing his lips with his fingers with his right hand and started to caress his cheek with his left.  
Daryl felt his face heat up with the intensity of the situation. His mouth went dry, the first thing he thought of was to lick his lips and accidentally licked Paul's fingers in the process, making the other man gasp. 

Daryl looked directly into the other mans eyes and got sucked in by his gaze like he used to.   
Oh he was falling for the guy, no questions about it.   
“Can I kiss you?” Paul asked suddenly. 

“What?” Daryl said so completely lost in the others eyes that he didn't hear the question. 

Paul huffed a laugh and repeated the question. “If I tried to kiss you, would you let me?” 

And by that question Paul had managed to make him speechless two times in one day. In a ten minute period. Why even bother asking him? Wasn't he supposed to take what he wanted, like everybody else did? 

“Ya don't have to ask…” Daryl started. “But yea… Yea I would.” 

Paul removed his hand on Daryl's lips and leaned forward to capture his lips with his own. 

Kind of like the previous time they'd kissed it escalated quickly. Paul climbed on top of Daryl, straddling him.   
Daryl entwined his fingers in Paul's messy hair holding him in place.   
Paul tried to feel as much of Daryl as possible, tracing his hands from his face down to his chest, feeling the hair on his chest that trailed down to his stomach.   
It didn't take long for both Paul and Daryl to start another grinding session, but Daryl wanted more and halted Paul in his movements by releasing his hair and grabbed hold of his hips, holding him in place. 

“What?” Paul asked breaking the kiss. He sat up and looked at Daryl with a confused look on his face. “Did I do something wrong? If you think I'm moving to fast you just have to tell me.” He rambled on. 

“No! No, ya didn't do anything wrong. Believe me, ya really didn't.” Daryl said trying desperately to catch his breath to be able to form a coherent sentence. “I-I just…” He started.   
He wasn't used to ask someone to get naked with him. He was always the one to follow along with what his previous partners wanted to do.  
So since he wasn't able to form what he wanted to do with words, he did the next best thing.   
He released his grip on Paul's hips and started to unbutton his pants. If he didn't get what he wanted now the guy would have to be beyond stupid. 

Just as Daryl desperately hoped, Paul did catch on.   
“You sure you want this? I mean we haven't know each other for that long. We can go slow too.” Paul blurted out. 

“Ya don't want to?” Daryl asked, feeling his heart sink in his chest and his instinct to run flared up in full force. 

“That's not what I'm saying.” Paul said calmly holding Daryl's head between his hands, making him look him in the eyes. “I really want to, but I need to be sure you're not doing this because you think it's what I want. And most importantly, I'm not looking for a one night stand, I need to be sure you're not going to disappear on me if we do this.” 

Pauls eyes were piercing his very soul with it's intensity.   
“I'm not going anywhere.” Daryl said gravely. 

“Good. Cause I really like you.” Paul said and captured Daryl's mouth in a searing kiss.   
Daryl tried to unbutton Paul's pants again, and this time Paul didn't stop him.   
Daryl managed to get them off to mid-thigh, after that Paul had to get off of Daryl to get them off all the way.  
While he was standing he took the liberty of taking his boxers off to.   
Then he was standing completely naked in front of Daryl.

Daryl scanned him up and down and couldn't find a single flaw on the man. The word beautiful jumped in his mind again, but it really was the closest word to describe him. 

Paul walked over at Daryl and started to unbutton his pants to.   
Daryl helped him by lifting his hips off the bed to make it easier for him to slide both boxers and all the way down in one go.   
“God you're gorgeous.” Paul breathed when he scanned Daryl's now equally naked body. 

Paul straddled him once again and cached Daryl lips in a hungry and needy kiss. It was messy but good nevertheless. Daryl sat up a little to be able to touch Paul's flawless body better.   
He traced his hands all the way from his back down to his ass, cupping it and shoving him closer towards himself, making their now naked erections press together, bringing a gasp from both of them. 

“How do you want to do this?” Paul asked between kisses and groans.

“What do you mean?” Daryl asked completely lost in the sensation of having a very naked Paul on his lap. 

“Are you a top or a bottom?” Paul elaborated, biting down on Daryl's neck making him moan hoarsely in the process.  
How the hell was he expecting to get an answer from him if he was doing everything to shut his brain down. 

“I-I'm usually a bottom.” He gasped out. 

“Ok. I'm usually a top, although I like it both ways. But if you're more comfortable bottoming we can do that.” Paul breathed. 

“I am.”Daryl said looking at him with hooded eyes. His patience was wearing very thin, he was hard to the brink of pain. He needed Paul inside of him, and soon. 

Paul laid Daryl down on his back and started to kiss him from his neck all the way down to his stomach.   
Daryl's breath started to speed up something awful, it felt like he wasn't getting enough air into his lungs.   
“Take it easy, don't want you to pass out on me.” Paul said giving him a worried look. “Deep breaths.” 

Daryl did as he was told and started taking deeper breaths, and after a while he was able to breathe almost normally again.   
“I'm good.” He said, in a husky voice. 

He saw Paul shiver slightly before returning to his previous ministrations.   
He started giving Daryl open mouthed kisses along his hipbones moving down towards his groin. He grabbed hold of Daryl leaking erection and planted a kiss on the tip of it.   
He heard Daryl's sharp intake of breath when he did that, and proceeded with a long lick from the base to the tip.   
Daryl tried and failed to bite back a moan and fisted the sheets on both sides, trying desperately to hold himself grounded. 

Paul gave him two more long licks before he took him in his mouth, and completely swallowed him down.   
Daryl gave out a surprised noise before he got lost in the sensation of having someone going down on him.   
That was something he was used to give, not receive. Sure, there had been one or two guys who had felt rather generous and had gone down on him, but it had never felt good.   
Whatever Paul did to him felt like heaven. His head swam, all he could focus on was what Paul did with his tongue on his dick. 

After a few minutes Paul released Daryl dick with a pop, making Daryl whine pathetically in protest.   
He heard Paul chuckle a little, but he was to far gone to give two fucks.   
“Paul… Please.” Daryl pleaded. If he'd been in his rightful scenes he would've kicked his own ass for sounding so needy, but he didn't care right now. He needed to come, like five minutes ago. 

“Yes. What do you want?” Paul asked huskily with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Please…” Daryl said sitting up trying to grab at Paul. 

“Just tell me.” He said laying Daryl down on his back once again, and was hovering over him, looking directly into his eyes.   
Daryl could see Paul's self control slipping away fast too, but he wasn't as far gone yet. 

“Come on babe, just tell me.” 

“Just fuck me all ready.” Daryl managed to growl out. “It fuckin’ hurts.” 

Paul smiled down at him and planted a quick kiss on his lips before he slid down between Daryl's legs and parted them to gain better access.   
Daryl looked down at Paul and saw that he started to suck on two of his fingers, probably to lube them up.   
“What are ya doin’” Daryl asked.

Paul looked at him in confusion.  
“Don't you want me to stretch you out first?” He asked. 

“I think I will be fine, ya don't need to.” He said. 

Paul shrugged and dived down to collect his pants, that was laying discarded by the bed. He dug around in his front pocked and gave away a quiet “yes!” When he found what he was looking for.   
When he faced Daryl again he saw that he was sitting up slightly, leaning on his elbows and had been studying his ass when Paul had bent down towards the floor.   
He wasn't even trying to hide what he had been doing.

Paul opened the condom package he'd been looking for in his pants and rolled the condom on quickly.   
Daryl laid himself back down again and parted his legs further, bending them slightly so Paul had enough room between them.   
He breathed calmly trough his nose as he felt Paul started to line his erection up by his entrance.   
“You sure you don't want me to stretch you out first?” He asked again. 

Daryl looked Paul in the eyes, holding his gaze for a few heartbeats before he answered.  
“I'm sure.” He bent forward slightly capturing Paul's lips again and folded his legs behind Paul's ass, drawing him closer, making the head of Paul's cock enter Daryl slowly.   
The feeling of Paul finally starting to enter him made him moan deeply into Paul's mouth.   
Paul thrusted forward one more time before he pulled out slightly and then thrusted forward again with more force. He repeated the motion gently, taking breaks for Daryl to be able to adjust to his girth,until he was fully seated inside of Daryl. 

Paul had his head rested on Daryl's shoulder, breath slightly elaborated. He was twitching slightly every now and then, probably trying to grasp whatever self control he had left.  
Daryl wasn't doing much better, he was once again gasping for air, but in a good way. He was holding a tight grip on Paul's shoulders, all he wanted to do was to tell Paul to fucking move damnit!! 

He wiggled his hips slightly making Paul gasp and moan into his shoulder.   
He didn't feel any signs of pain at all, not that he was expecting it by how gentle Paul had been.   
“Ya can move now.” Daryl said. 

Paul didn't had to be told twice.   
He lifted himself slightly off of Daryl. He eased himself out slowly and thrusted forward just as slowly, scanning Daryl for any signs of discomfort the whole time. 

It didn't take long for Paul to find a steady, but slow pace at first.   
Daryl felt his eyes flutter close and he gripped for the headboard of the bed and held on to it tightly.   
“Faster” he breathed after a few minutes. The agonizing slow pace was driving him insane. 

Paul picked up his pace and was soon enough pounding into Daryl mercilessly.   
All that was heard was the pounding of the headboard on the wall and their heavy breathing, with the occasional moans and gasps. 

Paul stopped suddenly, making Daryl open his eyes and give Paul a death glare.  
“What?!” Daryl hissed at him. 

“Hold on” Paul whispered.   
Paul rose up so he was standing on his knees, he held on to Daryl's hips and lifted him slightly of the bed.   
He started to thrust into Daryl again, making Daryl shout out in surprise.  
Paul stopped abruptly and looked at Daryl in surprised terror. 

“Did I hurt you?” He asked voice shaky.

Daryl looked down at him, shaking his head.  
“No! If ya stop now I swear I'll kill ya!” He growled at him. 

Paul didn't need more convincing and carried on pounding into him in an even faster pace.   
Daryl gasping and groaning even more than before.   
After a few minutes Daryl grasped hold of his leaking cock, helping himself along.   
“Paul… I'm-I'm not…” Was all he managed to say before his orgasm came crashing down on him like a ton of bricks.   
Come spurting all over his stomach and chest.   
He could vaguely hear Paul reaching his climax a few seconds after him in the distance. 

Soon afterwards Paul collapsed on top of him.   
Both of them breathing like they'd ran a marathon.   
He could feel himself drifting off to sleep but was shaken awake by a door roughly opening.

“What the hell is going on in here.. OH MY GOD!!” 

Both men looked over at the source of the sound and found a very wide eyed and very pale Tara standing on the threshold with her hands covering her gaping mouth. 

“I'm-so-so-so-sorry! I'll-be-back-later!” She said in a hurry and backed out of the room slamming the door shut. 

Daryl and Paul stared from the door to each other and burst out laughing at the extremely awkward situation. 

******

After the laughing fit subsided they took turns using the bathroom, but they took the liberty of showering together. That ended up in Daryl showing Paul that he was at least as talented with his mouth as Paul was and Paul returned the favor after.   
If Paul saw the scars on Daryl's back he didn't mention them, which he was grateful for. 

When they were done groping each other they quickly got dressed and walked out of the room.   
Tara was sitting on a kitchen chair with her nose in a book and was sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. 

“I see you've finally made it out of the room.” She said in a mock scolding tone.   
She turned to look at the pair and smiled at them.   
“But I think you guys could've given me some kind of warning. A sock on the door handle or something.” She said with a grimace.

“Sorry” Paul said walking over at the coffee machine and poured a cup for himself and gestured at Daryl to come get one too, which Daryl greatly appreciated and waked over to him and poured a cup for himself too. 

“It wasn't like we were planning on it. Sort of just happened.” He said after taking a sip of his coffee. 

“Well the image of your naked ass will forever be imprinted in my brain, so thank you for that.” She said with a small laugh, which made both Daryl and Paul laugh with her.

“I'm really sorry though. I can take the sheets home and wash them for you.” 

“Don't bother.” She said and waved Paul's apology off. “I'm going to have to burn that room down anyway.” 

Paul looked at the clock and grimaced.   
“Shit! Is it really this late?” He said. He looked over at Daryl. “We have to go I'm afraid. I have an early shift tomorrow and I have to fix some stuff up at home before it gets to late.” He said. 

Daryl glanced over at the kitchen clock at the wall. It was six pm. Had they really been in there for that long? No wonder he was starving. 

“Yea, sounds like a plan.” He said putting down his coffee cup next to Paul's in the sink. 

Tara got up from the chair and followed the pair to the hallway and gave Paul and Daryl a hug. 

“It was really nice meeting you, although next time I'm hoping not to see as much of you.” She said making Daryl laugh and blush at the same time. 

“I'll call you later.” Paul said to her before he walked out of the door with Daryl right behind. 

******

The drive to Daryl's place felt way to short. He didn't want to part from Paul at all and he felt his heart sink just thinking about it. 

“You ok?”Paul asked as he drove past the ‘Alexandria trailer park’ sign.   
“You're really quiet.”

“M’ fine. Just tired.” It wasn't completely a lie, but he couldn't really beg Paul to stay the night or to beg him to take him to Paul's place. He didn't want to come of too needy.   
It was really hard to have feelings for someone, especially when you hadn't had those kinds of feelings before. He wasn't sure what he should do with himself. 

Paul nodded and focused on the road once again.   
“What the hell..” He heard Paul say when they were closing in on were Daryl's trailer stood.   
He followed Paul's gaze trying to see what he was seeing.   
And then he saw it. 

Several bullet holes were littered everywhere on the trailer, the windows were shattered and the door was tossed carelessly on the other side of the field.   
But that wasn't the worst part.   
With bright red letters that read ‘cock sucker’ was painted across the entire trailer. 

“I'm guessing the word is out then.” Daryl said calmly. 

“You mean your brothers friends did this?!” Paul asked in a not so calm voice. 

“Yep. I guess they were pissed off about me not being home so they decided to trash the whole thing.” Daryl sighed and got out of the car.   
He walked towards the sad remains of the trailer and studied the damage. Most of it could be fixed but he didn't have the cash or the energy to do it. 

He walked in and saw that they hadn't been satisfied by just trashing the outside of the trailer, no, there wasn't an entire object of the interior that hadn't been broken.   
He walked into his bedroom and found to his joy that his crossbow had been spared, but he didn't had the same luck with the arrows. 

“I think you should call the cop that took your brother in and report this.” Paul said from behind him. 

“Yea, but not tonight.” Daryl said and grabbed his crossbow and walked out to the kitchen. “Besides, I haven't got a phone anymore.” He said and held out the shattered remains of his iPhone.

“You can borrow mine” Paul said and pulled out his phone. “Right after I've charged it.” He laughed when the phone promptly died in his hands. 

“Well anyway, you can hardly sleep in here tonight, or ever again. So I think I will drive you to my place.” Paul said looking at Daryl. 

“What?” Daryl said in utter shock.   
His stomach flipped around at Paul's offer, and he really wanted to follow him home, hell he'd been moping the whole ride here because he didn't want to part with the guy. But he didn't want him to offer Daryl a place to stay because he felt compelled to do so. 

“Daryl I really, really want you to stay with me.” He said like he was reading Daryl thoughts, which he probably did because sometimes Daryl's facial expressions was like reading a book. 

“Ya sure?” He asked

“Yes. I never wanted to drop you off here in the first place.” 

Daryl chuckled at Paul's words. “I never wanted to go here either.” He blurted out before he could strop himself. 

“Well then! Grab some clothes and let's go!” Paul said beaming at him.

Daryl walked into his bedroom and looked for clothes and other things he could need. As he did that he couldn't help to feel slightly grateful towards Merle's friends. Sure, they'd trashed his home, and that sucked. But they had pushed him even closer to Paul. And that made him both terrified and grateful.   
But mostly grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! I've never written smut in my life, so if it sucked it's because of that. 
> 
> This chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but I felt like I really needed to post something. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.   
> Comment if you like! :)


	8. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> getting to know each other a bit better and Daryl calls Grimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this chapter might suck really bad but now I know where I want to go with this story.  
> It'll get better so just bear with me ok? 
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's liked and commented this story so far! <3

Packing up his belongings was a quick matter, he found a few pair of pants, a few shirts and some boxers and threw it all in a bag, flung his crossbow over his shoulder and walked out of his bedroom. He walked over to Paul who stood by the entrance of the trailer leaning against the doorpost, waiting for him. 

“You ready to go?” He asked standing up straight and took a step towards Daryl. 

“Yea. Let's get out of this shit hole.” He said. A small smile ghosting on his lips. 

Paul nodded and walked outside towards the car.  
Daryl stopped at the threshold and looked around the trailer. He couldn't help to feel a little sad about leaving the place, sure it was a really shitty trailer, but it had been his home for a large part of his life.  
But a bigger part of him couldn't wait to get out of this place.  
He took a last look at the living space and walked out to Paul who was waiting inside the car. 

“Sorry, had to say goodbye to the place.” He said turning his head to Paul. 

“It's ok. I get it.” He said, smiling kindly at Daryl. “It's hard to part from some things.” 

“Yea.” Daryl sighed and leaned back in the seat. “We should go. They might come back t’ look for me.”

Daryl didn’t really want to think about what would happen if Merle's friends would find him and Paul here. He knew by the bullet holes that they were for a fact armed. And with just by his crossbow to fend for himself and Paul, they wouldn't last long.  
He also knew for a fact that Merle's friends always came in a group, so it wouldn't be fair play at all. 

Paul who must've read the slight worry on Daryl's face nodded and started the engine. He made a turn and drove pass the trailers neighboring Daryl's and away from Alexandria trailer park. 

******

“You can put your stuff wherever.” Paul said as he walked into of the open living room, bending down by the tv-set he reached for the phone charger. “I can clear a drawer for you in the morning if you want.” He turned to look at Daryl who were standing by the door looking frozen in place. 

“Are you alright?” Paul asked and walked over to him putting his hands on his shoulders.

Daryl felt a little overwhelmed. On the ride to Paul's place it had finally hit him, he was going to live with Paul-a man he'd known for a little more than two weeks, but only spent like four days with-for an unknown amount of days. Not to forget that he'd only just discovered the other day that he was falling for said man.  
So yeah, it felt like his head was going to explode right now with the thoughts racing through his mind.

“Yea, yea. Just tired s’all.” He said, trying to sound convincing. 

Paul smiled, stoking Daryl's shoulders with his hands in a soothing manner.  
“It's been quite a day for both of us I guess.” He said with a playful twinkle in his eyes, making Daryl blush at the hidden meaning in his words. 

Paul cleared his throat and backed away from Daryl. “Well I still need to fix some stuff before I go to bed, feel free to make your self at home in the meantime. I’m thinking about ordering a pizza or something later. Will that work with you?” Paul asked walking towards the kitchen. 

“Yea, sounds great.” Daryl said and walked in the direction of Paul's bedroom and dropped his stuff on the floor by the bed. 

******

When Paul was done with packing his lunch for work and tossing away dirty clothes in the hamper he called for a pizza for them both. 

“They said it will be here in ten to twenty minutes.” Paul said taking a seat next to Daryl on the sofa. “We can watch some tv while we wait.” He said holding out the remote to Daryl.

“I'm good, but if ya wanna we can.” He said looking at Paul.  
Paul shrugged and put the remote back on the armrest of the sofa.  
“We can talk instead” Paul said. “Get to know each other a little more?” 

Daryl turned towards Paul, locking eyes with him. “What do ya wanna know?” 

He wanted to know more about Paul too, the man had after all managed to wiggle his way under Daryl's skin for some reason. And that was just by his personality alone. But he was worried about what Paul was going to ask him. How much should he share about his life? 

Paul was looking down on his hands, fidgeting with his fingers a little. 

“I want to know everything about you to be honest.” He raised his gaze looking Daryl in the eyes again. “But we don't have to share our deepest darkest secrets just yet.” He said with a playful smile. 

Daryl laughed at Paul's comment shaking his head in amusement, Paul laughing with him.  
“So… What's your favorite color?” Paul asked looking at him dead in the eye with a serious expression on his face. 

Daryl blinked at him taken aback with the extremely random question.  
“What? Ya serious?” He asked. 

“Yeah!” Paul said smiling. “Though I would start with light questions.” 

Daryl snorted a laugh and leaned back in the sofa.  
“Now answer the question!” Paul said excitedly, shifting so he was sitting straight in front of Daryl. 

“I dunno. Black? Blue? I like red too. Don't have a favorite I guess.” Daryl answered honestly albeit confused about why Paul had asked that particular question. 

“Ok, fair enough. You wanna ask me something?” He asked. 

Daryl though for a moment. He wanted to ask Paul a real question but figured he could humor him and play along. 

“Aight. Favorite food.” Daryl settled with after a moment. 

“That's a tough one!” Paul said. “I like all kinds of food, but I have to say… steak!” 

They went back and forth like that for a while, asking each other unimportant questions. Much to Daryl's surprise he actually liked it. He learned quite a bit about the other man and was actually a bit disappointed when a knock on the door put an end to their question game. 

When Paul walked back to the sofa after answering the door he held two pizza boxes in his hands. 

“Do you want to eat here or in the kitchen?” He asked. 

“It's yer home. Ya decide.” Daryl said looking up at Paul. 

Shrugging Paul put down the pizza boxes down on the coffee table and walked out to the kitchen. 

“Do you want a beer or something?” He shouted at Daryl from the kitchen. 

“Yea sure.” Daryl shouted back. 

Paul came back from the kitchen holding a beer in each hand and handed one over to Daryl before he sat down beside him. 

They ate mostly in silence, Daryl glanced over at Paul every now and then, looking down every time Paul noticed his staring.  
He didn't get why he felt so nervous all of the sudden. He'd never felt nervous around any other guy. Especially not when he'd been intimate with them already. Disgusted and uncomfortable, yes. But never nervous. 

“What are you thinking about?” Paul asked, looking at him curiously. 

Daryl shrugged swallowing the last bite of his pizza.  
“Nothin’ special.” 

“Are you sure? Looked like you were uncomfortable or something.” 

Daryl snorted and took a sip from his beer before he leant back down on the sofa.  
“We're just thinking about some of my “exes” or whatever.” He said, figuring he'd should be honest towards Paul. 

“Ok? Nothing good I guess.” Paul said putting his last piece of pizza back in the box. “I thought you said you'd never had a boyfriend.” 

Daryl shook his head and looked down at his hands.  
“I haven't.” 

Paul looked at the man next to him. “It was because of your brother right? Because he doesn't like gay people?” 

Daryl swallowed and nodded. He suddenly felt a wave of fear rolling over him. What if Paul would hate him if he told him the full story? What if he would find him disgusting? But then again, it would be better to tell him now, before he got in to deep.  
“That’s not all.” Daryl said quietly. 

Paul – who'd started to fiddle with his beer bottle – turned his head to look at Daryl again. 

“Yeah?” He said in a genuinely curious tone. 

Daryl took a deep breath. “But before I tell ya this, ya have to try n’ not judge me to hard ok?” He finally looked up at Paul to be able read his expression. 

Paul nodded. He looked a little spooked by the turn of the conversation, but other than that he just looked curious.  
“I'll promise to be open minded.” He said with a smile. 

Daryl swallowed again and continued.  
“Like I've said before I've never been with anyone for anything other than just sex. That it was cause my brother doesn't like gay people s’only half of it. I've never wanted to be together with anyone. Never felt the need to.” He took a deep shaky breath, fixing his gaze at the black tv, not daring to look at Paul. 

“So whenever I felt the urge to ‘blow some steam’ I'd just go out to a bar or club far away and hook up with someone. After we’d done it I always felt disgusted with myself.” He sank down in his seat stating to feel ashamed of himself for what he'd done. 

“If I'd followed the guy home, I'd leave at first light. And if we'd stayed at the bar or club, I would've run away as soon as he was done with me.” 

He started to gnaw on his lower lip when he was done telling the story. The air around him was tensed and heavy. He was sure Paul would throw him out as soon as he'd taken in what Daryl just had told him. 

“I'm so sorry for you.” He heard Paul whisper next to him.  
He was so surprised by the words that he turned to look at Paul. 

“What?” He said not believing his ears. “Ya don't hate me?” 

“What? Why? For wanting human contact every now and then?” Paul said looking angry for the first time. “No, I can't hate you for that.” 

Then Paul did something he didn't expect at all. He leaned in and captured Daryl's lips in a searing kiss. Daryl responded immediately. 

They broke apart after a few minutes for some much needed air, Paul rested his head on Daryl's broad shoulder. 

“We've all done some things we're not so proud of, and that's fine.” Paul mumbled into Daryl's neck. 

“Yea, guess so.” Daryl said.

“But what I'm curious about is why you haven't ditched me yet.” 

”I'm not sure why I haven't either.” Daryl said bluntly, making Paul back away and look up at him with hurt written all over his face. 

“Ehh… Ok? Thanks.”

Daryl mentally kicked himself for saying that. 

“I didn't mean that. Ehh..” He began. 

Daryl were trying to find the right words to explain himself, but nothing he thought of sounded right. He looked around in the room as if they would magically appear in front of him somewhere. What could he say really? ‘I think I love you?’ No, to soon. ‘You're special to me?’ No, that sounded stupid. 

He could feel Paul's gaze on him and made the mistake by turning to look at him straight in the eyes.  
Oh my god his eyes! They were drawing him in again with that invisible force they had.  
It didn't help his frantic search in the slightest. 

“What did you mean then.” Paul snapped. 

What did he mean?  
“I.. I.. I just like ya! Ok?” Daryl snapped back. “Never liked anyone of the guys I was with before. I do like ya! And that's something coming from me!” He said in a calmer voice. 

Paul stared him down for a few heartbeats, Daryl were squirming in his seat by the intensity of Paul's gaze. 

“Ok.” He said. “Judging by what you've told me that's kind of a big deal. And you're lucky I like you, because if I didn't I would've let you sleep in the tub.” He said with a slight smirk on his lips. 

“Heh, I think I would've managed.” Daryl said smiling back. 

Paul looked up at the huge clock over his tv and sighed. 

“I really have to go to bed. You can stay up if you want to.” Paul said looking hopefully at Daryl. 

“Nah, I'm kinda tired too.” He said, and he was. All the excitement today and the emotional roller coaster that was his feelings right now were really wearing him out. 

Paul leaned forward and gave him a soft peck on the lips.  
“Do you want to share the bed with me?” He whispered against Daryl's ear.  
The soft spoken words made Daryl shiver slightly. 

“Yea.” Daryl whispered back. 

Paul grabbed Daryl by his hand and lead the way towards the bedroom.

Paul turned around and kissed Daryl fully on the lips after they'd reached the bedroom. He accidentally fell backwards when the bed hit the back of his legs, dragging Daryl down with him.

They took turns undressing each other and crawled under the covers together, their two bodies pressed together as close as humanly possible.  
Their mouths met once again in a hungry kiss and Daryl could feel Paul's hand snaking in between them down to their erected cocks.

Daryl groaned in Paul's mouth at the contact with his hand.  
“Help me.” Paul breathed, breaking them apart. 

Daryl cached on and gripped Paul's equally hard cock and started to tug at it in time with Paul's movements. 

It didn't take long for them to tumble over the edge, riding out their climaxes groaning in each other's mouths as they kissed lazily. 

******

Daryl woke with a start by a really loud and annoying ringing sound. 

“Relax Daryl, it's just my alarm.” Came Paul's muffled voice beside him. 

Right! He wasn't at home in his shitty trailer. He was laying naked in Paul's bed. 

“You can go back to sleep if you want.” Paul said sitting up searching for his clothes who were discarded on the floor by the foot of the bed. 

“I will be home by noon so you can borrow my phone.” Paul said tugging his shirt on. 

Daryl grunted in response and turned over to his stomach, already falling back to sleep. 

******

When Daryl woke up for the second time that day he was alone. 

He got out off the bed and picked his clothes up, settling with putting his pants on, and walked out off the bedroom. 

With Paul away he wasn't sure on what he should do to pass the time.  
There was the tv, but he wasn't sure on how to turn it on without breaking the damned thing. 

His eyes landed on one of the huge bookshelves by the tv. There were all kinds of books, from poetry to medical books. 

He walked towards the shelf to have a closer look at the titles of the books and one of them caught his eye immediately. A paperback book with the title ‘Treating survivors of childhood abuse’  
He took the book out and flipped through the pages of it. 

He nearly dropped the book when he heard someone unlocking and opening the front door.

“Honey I'm home!” He heard Paul cheerfully call from the hallway. “Oh you're up!” He said when he saw Daryl stand frozen by the bookshelf. 

He looked up and saw Paul's facial expression change from happy to understanding when he saw what kind of book Daryl was holding.  
That told Daryl he must've noticed the scars on his back, and now he'd got his answer on why he had them. 

He walked over to Daryl and gave him a warm hug which Daryl responded back to. 

When Paul released Daryl he looked down at the book.  
“You can borrow it if you want.” 

Daryl shrugged and put it back in the shelf.  
“Might give it a go, someday.” He said. 

Paul nodded and handed Daryl his phone.  
“As much as I hate to rush you, but I need to be back at work in forty-five minutes. I thought you would want to call Grimes.” 

Daryl nodded and accepted the phone from Paul and dialed the number to the police department. 

A woman with an awful nasal voice answered the phone. 

“Yea, hi. I want to talk to Rick grimes.” Daryl told the woman. 

“I'll transfer you to him. Please hold.” 

Rick answered the phone after a few seconds with a really tired voice. 

“Sheriff grimes.” 

“Ehhh.. Hi. It's Daryl. Daryl Dixon. You arrested my brother.” Daryl said 

“Yeah! Daryl! I remember you.” Rick said and immediately he sounded more awake.  
“How are you?” 

“I'm fine.” Daryl said simply. “But my trailer isn't.” 

He told Rick what had happened to Daryl's trailer and that he suspected that Merle's crew was responsible for it.  
He even told him what Merle had said when he'd called Daryl, and that he thought Merle had put a price on Daryl's head after that. 

“We will absolutely look into it, but I have no idea how Merle could've done that since he haven't had a single visitor since he got here.” Grimes said. 

Daryl just gaped at the phone.  
“Daryl? Are you still there?” Grimes said on the other line. 

“Yea… Yea I'm here.” Daryl said. 

“Like I said, we will look into it, don't do anything stupid. I will call you once we've talked to your brother.” 

Daryl's thoughts ran a mile a minute after he'd hung up the phone..  
If Merle wasn't the one to send his lackeys on his sorry ass then who was it? 

Paul walked in and sat down next to Daryl on the sofa.  
“What did he say?” He asked.

Daryl turned his head to look at Paul.  
“It wasn't him. Merle hasn't had a single visitor since he got there.” 

Paul looked down at Daryl's hands who were clutching the phone.  
Paul put one of his hands over Daryl's, trying to calm him. 

“What does that mean?” Paul asked. 

Daryl let out a long breath before answering.  
“Nothin’ really, s’ just gonna be tougher findin’ the bastard.”


	9. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl visits Merle and gets some unsettling news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there!  
> So this chapter took forever to get up.  
> Mostly because of my job taking up an enormous amount of time, and then I had to get sick in the process.  
> I deeply apologize for the delay. 
> 
> This chapter is on the shorter side, but I will try to write longer ones again. I hope you enjoy nevertheless! :)

Daryl was pacing back and forth in Paul's living room, and had been doing that for the last thirty minutes.  
Paul – who had called his work and told them a family issue had come up and that he wasn't coming back that afternoon – was watching him from the sofa. 

“Daryl please! Sit down you're making me nauseous!” He said, earning a grunt from the railed up man. “Look. I get it.” Paul said walking over to Daryl and grabbed him by the arms to stop his ridiculous pacing. “You want to know who made your trailer look like a Swiss cheese, and I do too. But I think you'll make more progress doing that sitting down and talk with me instead of walking a hole in my floor.” That comment actually made the grumpy man chuckle despite himself. 

He followed Paul to the sofa and sat down next to him.  
Paul studied him with an intense gaze, making him feel a little flustered.  
Daryl sighed and met Paul's intense stare.  
“M’ not worried about my trailer.” He said. Paul narrowed his eyes in confusion.  
“M’ worried about what they're gonna do if they find ya. What if I can't help ya! What if m’ not there and they kill ya!?” Daryl's voice cracked up in the end.  
“Wouldn't be able to live with myself.” He mumbled looking down at his hands. 

Paul planted his hand on top of Daryl's, entwining their fingers.  
“Hey. Look at me.” Paul said searching Daryl's eyes with his own. Daryl lifted his head slowly and looked up, locking eyes with Paul. “You shouldn't worry about that. I doubt they'll find me.” 

Daryl snorted. “Ya don't know Merle's friends, if they really want to, they find ya.” Daryl sighed deeply, feeling like all his energy had left his body. “Just have to figure out who it could be.” Daryl said more to himself then Paul. 

“Maybe you should visit your brother?” Paul asked leaning back in the sofa. 

“Doubt he will tell me anything. We're not exactly in speaking terms right now.” Daryl leaned back in the sofa and shifted slightly so his shoulder was pressing slightly against Paul's. “Don't think he knows anything anyway.” Daryl breathed. 

*

The rest of the day went by smoothly.  
They had cuddled up in the sofa for a couple of hours, watching some re-runs of Seinfeld. Later Paul made a simple spaghetti dinner, and since Daryl hadn't eaten anything since the pizza the night before, he thought the pasta was the best thing he's ever eaten before. 

“Slow down! You're going to give yourself stomach cramps if you carry on like that.” Paul laughed when Daryl had devoured his second serving.  
Daryl glared at him, but leaned back in the chair. 

“Have you thought about what I said?” Paul asked him. 

Daryl sighed. He had, but he really didn't think he would get anything from Merle.  
“Yes. But I still don't think it will do any good.” 

“You don't know that.” Paul said putting the last bite of pasta in his mouth.  
“You said Grimes told you your brother didn't have any visitors. Well what about phone calls then?” 

Daryl blinked at Paul. He hadn't thought about asking Grimes if Merle had called anyone, he'd been focusing on the visitors.  
Paul must've noticed the realization dawn on on him because he was sporting a very smug smirk. 

“Yea, well ya might be right. But that doesn't change that Merle's not going to talk to me.” 

“No. But you're still his brother, and I wonder if he really wants you dead.” Paul said leaning back in the chair. “And if he doesn't, does he know one of his friends is trying to kill you?” 

Daryl thought about it for a while. He knew what his brother was capable of, but he'd never heard about them killing anyone before. Beating them senseless, yes. But never cold blooded killing anyone. And he really doubted Merle would want him dead. 

“Maybe not.” He mumbled. 

“Well there you go!” Paul said. He stood up and started to clear out the table, putting the dishes in the sink for later.  
“I think you should see him. I don't like the guy, but I like the idea of some maniac running around shooting holes in you even less.”  
He said when he returned and were standing next to Daryl. 

Daryl chuckled and got up to give Paul a peck on the lips.  
“I'll think about it.” He said. 

*

The next day Paul left just as early as the day before, leaving Daryl alone in the warm bed who felt just a little to big without Paul on the other side.  
He got up an hour after Paul had closed the door and got dressed.  
He sat down on the bed trying to sort his thoughts out.  
Paul had a point and he really should try to talk to Merle. He guessed Merle would like to know someone if his friends tried to get him dead, if it wasn't Merle who had sent them out. 

He got off of the bed and walked out to the kitchen looking for a pen and something to write on to leave a note for Paul if he got home before Daryl. 

When he succeeded in finding a pen and an old envelope who didn't look too important he started writing. 

‘Paul! I've gone to talk to Merle. I'll be back as soon as possible.  
-Daryl’

He left the note on the kitchen table to make it easy for Paul to find when he got home and walked out to the hallway.  
He put his jacket and shoes on and grabbed the spare key Paul had shown him and walked out. 

*

The smell of stale air and old coffee hit him like a brick wall when he opened the door to the police station.  
He saw several police officers hurry around like headless hens with papers in their hands. 

He walked to the the front desk where a pretty girl sat and looked at the screen of a computer.  
He cleared his throat to get her attention.  
“Oh! Hi, how can I help you?” She said in a light cheery voice. 

“M’ here to see m’ brother.” Daryl said gruffly. 

“Aha. What's your brothers name?” 

“S’ Merle Dixon.” 

The girl tapped away on the computer.  
“Yes! Just take a seat and an officer will take you to him.”  
The girl chirped. 

Daryl walked over to the very uncomfortable looking benches near the exit and decided on not wanting wood taste in his ass, so standing up it was. 

He studied the officers running around the place for a wile. No kidding the police didn't get the job done if they were running around like that all day, he mused. 

A few minutes later a door opened and no other than Rick Grimes appeared behind it.  
He walked toward the girl by the desk to talk to her.  
She pointed at Daryl as they spoke and Grimes nodded at her and walked toward Daryl. 

“Hi Daryl! I was just going to call you.” He said extended a hand for Daryl to take.

“Yea, well I couldn't wait.” He said. 

“ well I'm guessing you're here to see your brother then” 

Daryl nodded and after letting Daryl go he gestured to the door he'd walked out of minutes prior and they started walking. 

“I thought about somethin’ last night.” Daryl said. 

“Yeah? What about.” 

“Ya said Merle hadn't have any visitors, but what about phone calls?” 

Grimes stopped sharply, making Daryl bump right into him.  
“Oh, sorry.” Grimes apologized, Daryl waved the apology off with a grunt.

“I don't know if Merle called anyone, I have to check with the other guards. I can do that if you want me to.” 

“That be great.” Daryl said.

They continued walking and ended up in a room with some tables and chairs lined up in rows.  
The room was empty save for a single guard standing by the opposite wall next to a door. 

“Take a seat, your brother will be here in a while.” Grimes said walking out of the room. 

Daryl sat down on one of the chairs. It was just as uncomfortable as it looked. Made from the same material as the benches by the entrance. 

He stared out the window lost in thoughts and jumped when he suddenly heard a door open.  
He looked in the direction of the noise and saw a Merle followed by a guard.  
Merle frowned deeply when he laid eyes on Daryl, which told him Merle wasn't thrilled to see him there. 

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Merle grumbled, flinching away from the guard. 

“What are ya doin’ here lilsis?” Merle said when the guard had walked away, giving them some privacy. 

“I wanted ta talk to ya.” Daryl said paying no notice to the new pet name Merle'd given him. 

“About?” Merle said bluntly.  
“Ya have ta hurry up, it's my turn ta do the laundry, wouldn't miss it for the world.” He said when Daryl grew silent. 

“Did ya send out yer lackeys to kill me n’ Paul?” Daryl asked with a hushed tone, to not alert the guard. 

Merle blinked at Daryl, clearly shocked by the question.  
“Now why would I do that?” Merle asked, yanking at the chains on his arms. 

“Ya have yer reasons.” Daryl said. 

Merle chuckled.  
“May have. But I don't want yer ass dead. Don't like yer love interest perhaps, but I don't want ta kill ya for it.” He said. “But I bet someone might. Why'd ya ask?” 

Daryl told him what had happened with the trailer, and that he had to move in with Paul for the time being. Careful not to mention the address just in case Merle was lying.

“Shit… Well I didn't do it. Haven't had a single visitor since I got here.” 

“Yea. I already know that.” Daryl stated.  
“What about phone calls? Did ya call anyone? Did anyone call ya?”

“Yea... Martinez called me. He wanted ta know were I was at. Might've said some shit about ya.” He said.

“Shit Merle!” Daryl breathed, and dropped his head in his hands. 

“I was fucken furious at ya! Didn't think straight!” Merle shouted.  
The guard by the door started to walk toward them.  
Daryl raised a hand in a halting manner and the guard backed away again. 

“What did ya say to him?” Daryl asked. 

“That ya and yer fucken boyfriend got me thrown behind bars.”

Daryl felt his heart sink and his gut twist unpleasantly.  
“Great…” He huffed. “I-I gotta go.” Daryl said and stood up. 

The guard started to walk toward them again and grabbed Merle by the arm to get him to stand up.  
Daryl started to walk out off the room I'm a hurry. 

“I'm sorry brother. For what it's worth, I'm sorry!” He heard Merle shout after him. 

*  
Daryl wasn't paying any attention to where he was going and bumped into Grimes for the second time that day. 

“Woah, easy there.” He said. “What happened?” 

Daryl took a calming breath and tried to find his voice in the proses.  
“Have’ta get home.” He said in one breath. 

“I figured. What happened?” 

He looked into Grimes eyes and saw genuine concern in them. He'd never seen a police officer look concerned before.  
“Merle… He… He talked to Martinez.” 

“The drug dealer?” Grimes asked. His concerned look morphed into a look of fury. 

“Yea, him. I'm guessing he was the one trying ta kill me n’ Paul.”  
Daryl tried to get his breathing under control.  
“I have’ta get home. Now.” He said, walking past Grimes and out of the door. 

*

When Daryl got back Paul hadn't come home yet.  
He started pacing back and forth and kept looking at the clock, getting more and more antsy by the minute. 

When he finally heard the door open he rushed toward the hallway almost knocked Paul over in his haste.  
“Daryl wha…”  
Was all he got out before Daryl knocked their lips together in a searing kiss filled with desperation and fear. 

When he finally released Paul from his lip lock Paul looked at him with wide eyes trying to catch his breath.  
“Okay, not that I don't love getting attacked like that by you, what's going on?” He said breathlessly. 

“I went to see Merle.” Daryl said still a little out off breath himself. 

“And I'm guessing you have bad news?” Paul asked, starting to look a little worried. 

Daryl planted another soft kiss on Paul's lips before answering.  
“It doesn't look good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... What is so special about this Martinez character? 
> 
>  
> 
> I would like to remind you that English isn't my first language, so there might be some mistakes.  
> I really do try to minimize them, but you know... Nobody's perfect! :)


	10. Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait! I had no idea how to continue this story at all.  
> But I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with it now!  
> So the next update shouldn't take as long! 
> 
>  
> 
> I just want to say thank you to everyone that have been liking and commenting on this story! :) <3

“What do you mean?” Paul asked, worry lacing into his voice. “What did your brother say?” 

Daryl released Paul and walked over to the couch and sat down.  
Paul followed him and sat down beside him. 

“Please tell me.” He pleaded in a hushed voice. 

Daryl looked at him and let out a harsh huff of breath. 

“There's this guy. He goes by the name Martinez.” Daryl began.  
Paul looked at him and nodded at him to continue.  
“He drives the largest drug operation in the city. My brother used to do business with him before. He doesn't like Merle very much. Not at all actually.” He said. 

“Why?” Paul asked, still trying to encourage him to carry on. 

“My brother screwed him over big time a year ago, and that screwup costed Martinez thousands of dollars. Ya see Merle were going to sell for Martinez, but the cops were on Merle's tail that night. He noticed them before he got caught though, but he had to toss the stash in the lake.” 

“Shit” Paul said looking down at the floor.

“Yea. Shut kinda sums it up.” Daryl chuckled darkly.  
“Martinez wanted his money for the stash Merle were supposed to sell, which were a lot! But being the hothead Merle is, he refused to pay him back. Saying that ‘he didn't get paid for the shit so why should he pay with his own money’ Even going as far as blaming Martinez and his men on sending the cops on Merle to frame him n’ shit. Martinez went bat crazy and beat him half to death. Telling him that if he ever got another reason he would kill him and everyone he cared about.  
M’ guessing Merle gave him a reason.” Daryl sighed. 

They both went silent after Daryl finished telling the story. The atmosphere in the room was heavy by the seriousness about it. 

“Okay, so he hates your brother. But what I don't get is what his hate towards him, has to do with you?” Paul asked suddenly. 

“I'm a Dixon. That's enough. But what's even more dangerous is, Martinez knows Merle's locked up, and I can bet mah ass on that he knows about ya somehow.” 

“Okay, I don't follow you...” Paul said staring up at Daryl again, confusion written all over his face.

“He hates gay people.” Daryl said gravely.  
“Everything about them. Which means he has one more reason in wanting to end me, and even worse, he will come after you because of me!”

Paul drew in a sharp breath when Daryl said the last sentence and leaned back in the couch, clearly in deep thoughts. 

“It'll be fine.” He said after a while.  
Daryl turned his head to look at him. 

“How will this be fine? Didn't ya hear me?” 

Paul sat up straight and locked eyes with the other man.  
“I did. But I'm convinced this will turn out good. You can talk to Grimes about this and the police will sort this out! You can lay low in the meantime!” 

“Ya can't be serious?” Daryl laughed humorlessly.  
“Will you do the same thing then? Lay low? Meaning you can't go to work or anythin’!” 

Paul's eyes grew wider and then a scowl formed on his face.  
“We don't even know if they know who I am! I won't need to do that.” 

“I know they do! And if they don't, they will find out! They always do!” Daryl almost shouted, frustrated about how Paul didn't seeming to understand the gravity of the situation. 

Paul leaned in and grabbed Daryl's face between his hands and stared deep into his eyes.  
“It, will, be, fine!” He worded out.  
“Let's not fight about this. You're going to call Grimes in the morning, and they will sort this out.” 

Daryl sighed and closed his eyes, it was clear that Paul wouldn't bulge about this. And honestly even if he did, there wasn't really anything they could do about anything right now. There wasn't any reason for either him or Paul to panic about it now.  
So he accepted Paul's advice, and calmed down just enough for Paul to be happy. 

“Good, now let's make something to eat, I'm starving!” Paul said and walked out to the kitchen. 

Daryl followed the other man with his eyes. Daryl couldn't believe how fast he was falling for this man! The realization about his feelings and that Martinez might be out to take the only person that had managed to make Daryl feel like this away from him was terrifying!  
He could feel his heart speed up and panic staring to surge through his body by the mere thought of anything happening to the other man. 

He drew in an calming breath and got up from the couch.  
He was going to listen to Paul and try to not think about it, for now. 

With that though he walked out to the kitchen to help Paul with the dinner. 

*  
After they'd eaten, Paul and Daryl had gone to bed. Paul had said that he had to get up early in the morning for work and Daryl had been tired himself, but now he couldn't sleep. His mind were running with various pictures of Paul being taken away from him. What if Martinez found Paul at work? What if he broke into the apartment when Daryl wasn't there?  
The flashing scenarios in his head were driving him insane, his heart thumped loudly in his ears, drowning out the sound of Paul's calm breaths beside him. 

Daryl turned his head to look at the sleeping man beside him and took in how relaxed and carefree he looked in his sleep. And then he just knew that if something would happen to Paul, he would break into a million pieces.  
He sighed and got out off bed, to riled up to even pretend to sleep. 

He walked out to the living room and started pacing back and forth, trying to sort his racing thoughts out. 

What he knew was that he couldn't stay away from Paul. But he also knew that staying with Paul was bringing danger into Paul's life, and that was something he didn't want for the man. 

After a few minutes of pacing and hard thinking he made up his mind.  
The best for Paul was if Daryl stayed away from him, even if it would break him.  
But he couldn't be selfish, not right now. 

He walked back into the bedroom and collected all of his things and his crossbow, which wasn't that hard since he hadn't really unpacked.  
He walked over to the sleeping man, his heart clenched painfully when he took in all of his features, his long hair that were tussled and wiled from tossing in his sleep, his long eyelashes that casted shadows underneath his eyes, his perfect nose, full lips and neatly trimmed beard. 

His eyes started to tear up at the thought of never being able to see that face again, to never be able to kiss those lips again.  
He made himself pry his eyes away from the man who held his heart and walked out of the room. 

He walked out to the kitchen and found the same pice of paper he'd used before. He took it and wrote a new message on the backside of the paper:

~Paul, I'm so sorry for leaving in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. But I can’t live with the thought of something happening to you because of me. It's safer this way. I hope you understand. Don't come and look for me, just move on and forget all about me. Stay safe. –Daryl~

He placed the pice of paper on the kitchen table and hoped to anyone that would listen that he would find it in the morning. 

He picked his belongings up, put his boots and vest on. Lastly he slung his crossbow over his shoulder , and with a last glance at the dimly lit apartment he walked out of the door. 

*  
At first he wasn't sure of where he should go. He had nowhere to be, but before he knew it his legs started moving on their own accord towards the place he'd been calling his home. Alexandria trailer park. 

The walk over there took forever! And when his feet touched the muddy road in the entrance of the trailer park his feet were sore and probably drenched in his own blood from thousands of broken blisters.  
His owner fault from not wearing socks in the boots.

When he finally reached the familiar trailer he walked around it. It didn't look like anyone had been here since he and Paul left the place. 

He walked up to the trailer and let his fingers trail across one of the bullet holes in the wall.  
He got a strange feeling of sorrow by the look of his so called home being in this state. 

He shrugged the feeling of and walked into the wreak of a trailer.  
Broken glass and other shit littered on the floor cracked under the weight of his boots when he enters the living space. 

It looked exactly as it did when he left the place.  
The moonlight entered the bullet holes in the walls, looking like dimly lit spotlights. The stuffing of the couch laying littered on the floor with the broken mess of the other interior he'd owned. 

He walked into his bedroom, dropped his bag and crossbow on the bed and sat down.  
He dropped his head in his hands and felt a familiar stinging in his eyes as they watered up.  
He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands and willed the stinging to go away.  
The last thing he needed right now was to start to blubber like an idiot. 

When he had collected himself just enough he heard the sound of a lighter being lit coming from the living space.  
He got up and looked out.  
There was a figure standing in the middle of the broken mess, the tip of a cigarette glowing angrily in the poorly lit room. 

Daryl felt his blood freeze in his veins when a very familiar voice spoke up. 

“Hi there Dixon.” 

*

“What the fuck are ya doin’ here Martinez?” Daryl hissed at the man standing in the living space. 

“I just thought I should visit the family of an old enemy!” Martinez answered, a smug grin visible on his face in the dim light. 

“Fuck you!” Daryl shouted and started to walk towards him, trying to get past the man blocking the exit.

“Not so fast Dixon!” Martinez spat and grabbed Daryl by the collar of his shirt and pushed him backwards.  
Daryl lost his footing and landed on his back on the kitchen floor.  
“I want to have a chat with you.” He said and squatted down next to Daryl. 

“I got nothin’ ta say ta ya.” He growled. He hissed in pain when he tried to sit up as the pain from the fall bloomed up when he moved. 

“Why don't you just listen then?” Martinez stated calmly, the smug smirk still plastered on his lips. 

Daryl went silent, just glaring at the man in front of him. The smoke from Martinez cigarette stinging his eyes. 

“I'll take that as a yes.” He said, getting up from his squatting position.  
“You have to wonder why I've decided to target your brother again? You have to be just a little bit curious.” 

“’M sure ya have yer reasons.” Daryl murmured from the floor.” 

“Yes! I do actually!” Martinez cheered happily, dropping the bud of the cigarette and crushing it with the heel of his boot.  
“Two little birdies tweeted to me about a bar fight a few weeks ago! Turns out your brother was the star of that fight.  
Do you know what bar it was in?” 

“Joe’s” Daryl answered quietly, thinking back at the night, trying to think of something he might've missed. Why would that fight be of any significance to Martinez? 

Martinez squatted down again and leaned in towards Daryl's face, so close he could feel his breath against his face, smelling like smoke and beer.  
“That's my fucking bar!” He growled, and stood up straight again.  
“My brother works there, but I own the fucking place! And not only did your fucking brother trash the place - I can forgive that, I have the money to replace broken tables and other interior, no problem – “ he stated calmly. And then he looked sternly over at Daryl, eyes shining with anger.  
“But. When your lowlife junky brother decides to sell his fucking dope on MY fucking territory. Then, then it's fucking war!”  
Martinez closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath before he opened his eyes again. 

“Do you see why I have a problem with this?”  
He asked.  
“I mean, it's not like I didn't warn him before, but you Dixon’s…” he said pointing at Daryl.  
“You Dixon's don't care about rules.” 

“How do ya know he were sellin’? Do ya have any proof he did it?” Daryl spat, he were so angry he was shaking, urging to bury his first into that smirking idiots skull, beating that smile of his face. 

“I do.” He said, the smile growing even bigger.  
“The two girls Merle walked away with, they are working for me. And I got the whole exchange on tape.” 

“Fuck.” Daryl hissed again and got up from the floor, winching when the movement tugged at his sore muscle in his back.  
“Why are ya tellin’ me this?” He growled. 

“Because I want you to understand Dixon.” Martinez started and walked closer to the man.  
“I promised you brother once that if I ever caught him doing anything on my territory, he would pay. Since he's locked up I can't touch him.  
But he still have to pay, and that's where you fit in! He will pay, through you!” 

Daryl rushed forward, trying to knock the other man down with his own body weight.  
But Martinez must've counted on him doing something to escape and moved to the side, grabbed both of Daryl's arms in a fluid motion and flung him against the wall, head first, his head colliding with a few bricks Merle had used to fix a hole in the wall with a few years back. 

Daryl saw stars dance across his eyes after the impact, and the whole world danced when he tried to get up on his feet again.  
He gave up after his third try and stayed down, sitting on the littered floor with his back against the wall.  
He felt his eyelids grow heavy and the last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him was Martinez smiling face. 

*  
When Daryl woke up he felt dizzy and disoriented.

“Nap time’s over. Get up!”  
He felt someone tugging on his arm, hoisting him up on his feet.

His legs felt wobbly and his head throbbed painfully for each step he took.  
He looked over at the person holding him up and the memories of what had happened came rushing back. 

“Come on now, let's get you into the car.” Martinez said, leading him out of the trailer. 

When they got outside and started to walk towards the car he saw that the sun was up, the sharp light were hurting his eyes and made his head throb even worse. 

He looked away from the abusing beams of light and cached a movement in the corner of his eye.  
He snapped his gaze towards he movement, and saw a glimpse of what he thought was Paul hiding by the back of the trailer.  
He blinked and looked again, just to see thin air on the spot were Paul had been just a second ago.  
He shrugged it off as his mind playing tricks with him, probably because of the guilt he was feeling for leaving Paul like that.

“Get in!” Martinez snapped, pushing him towards the backseat of the car.  
Daryl wobbled on unsteady feet but managed to get the car door open and climbed in without falling on his ass.  
He leaned his head back in the seat and closed his eyes, trying to will the world to stop spinning. 

He heard the slam of car doors being closed and locked.  
‘It was a nice ride, I'm going to miss ya Paul.’ He thought as the humming of the car engine lulled him back into unconsciousness.


	11. Pain

~~  
He can see Paul. He's sitting on his knees in the middle of the dark forest. His body was shaking slightly from the chill of the wind.  
He hunched forward, his long hair covering his face as a golden brown curtain.  
There was dried blood and dirt covering most of his thorn clothes and hair. 

As Daryl moved in closer he could hear the faint sound of sobbing and sniffles coming from the dirty man on the forest floor. Daryl could see his body quivering slightly as the small sounds erupted from the man. 

Daryl stopped in front of him and hunched down to him, tried to get his attention by touching his shoulder softly, not wanting to scare the other man. 

Paul tilted his head back slowly, streaks of dirt and dried blood covering his face and beard.  
His eyes were empty and tears were streaming down his face, leaving streak marks on his dirty face.  
He looked ghostly pale and his empty eyes looked right through Daryl, like he didn't see him  
He opened his mouth and let out a pained wail as his face scrunched up, the expression matching the pained noise leaving his mouth. 

“Why?! Why did you leave me?!” He shouted out. 

“I'm sorry Paul. I didn't mean to.” Daryl tried to calm the man down.  
He rubbed his shoulder and grabbed for his hand with his own free one. 

“Why? You can't leave me… Not now! Not like this… Please…” He continued to shout. It was like he was totally unaware about Daryl's presence. 

“But I'm here now Paul. I'm here! Look at me.” Daryl tried.  
But Paul continued to see right through him. 

“I can't… How…” He sobbed and looked over at his right.  
Daryl followed his gaze and saw a man laying on his back in a bed of dead leaves. 

As he looked closer he took in the details of his face, his hair, his open soulless eyes! It took him a moment to register that it was himself he was looking at! It was his lifeless body laying there on the ground next to Paul. 

Daryl started to hyperventilate. This couldn't be happening! He couldn’t be dead! He would've noticed If that had happened, wouldn't he?! 

“Paul look at me! Please! I'm here!” Daryl tried as he could feel his own eyes starting to tear up.  
He tried to grab at the collar of the other mans shirt, but his hand just went right through him. 

‘This can't be happening!’ He thought as he tried not to panic, flicking his gaze down to his hands. 

“Please… come back…” Paul sobbed again as he collapsed on top of the lifeless form on the ground. 

Daryl backed away from the heartbreaking scene in front of him.  
He could slowly feel himself stating to wither away, darkness started to appear at the corners of his eyes and were creeping in closer on him.  
He could feel coldness spreading from his head throughout to his numb limbs.  
‘This is it. This is how it all ends’ was the last thing he thought as the darkness consumed him. 

~~  
*  
Daryl woke up too a bucket of ice water being dunked over his head.  
He felt cold of the water seeping through his clothes and chilling him down to the bone. 

He saw five men sitting around a table, smoking and sharing a bottle of brown liquid between them. A sixth guy were standing beside him, holding onto the bucket that had contained the ice water that had just been dunked over Daryl.  
Daryl looked up at the guy and tried to glare at him, but the chill from the melting ice cubes on his body only made him to manage something resembling a pained grimace. 

“I see you're finally awake!” Came Martinez voice from the doorway across the room.  
“We were starting to worry you would miss the party! And we can't have the man of the hour missing his own party now can we?!” 

A round of churches could be heard from the room as the men got up from their seats and started to walk to were Daryl was sitting.

Daryl tried to twist his hands lose of from its bindings, feeling his skin on his wrists starting to sting as his struggles slowly peeled the top layer of skin off the raw.  
The men laughed at him again when they saw his failed attempt at breaking loose.  
Daryl glared at the crowd and kicked at the closest one of the men, hitting the bucket in his hands away so hard it went flying across the room, hitting the ground with a hollow rattle. 

“Do we have to tie your legs down too? Or will you stop kicking around?” Martinez asked and walked in closer at Daryl, lifting him up slightly by the neck, lifting the chair up with him.  
Daryl responded by spitting him square in the face.  
Martinez released his hold around Daryl's neck and he fell back down, the legs of the chair hitting the floor with a thud.

Martinez glared at him. His eyes were filled with rage as he dried the trail of spit away with the back of his hand.  
He took a step back and kicked Daryl hard in the chest.  
The impact of the kick making the chair tilt over and fall to its back.  
Daryl groaned in pain when he felt the back of his head collide with the hard concrete of the floor. 

”Now let me tell you how this is going to play out.” Martinez hissed as he walked over to the chair and pulled it up from the floor. He went right up into Daryl's face, staring straight into his eyes.  
“My boys over here.” He said with a nod towards the six men standing right behind him.  
“They're going to teach your brother a lesson not to fuck with me!  
And since he got himself locked up, you'll just have to do!” 

He stepped away from Daryl and walked over to the rest of his crew.  
He picked up a pack of cigarettes from his front pocket and lit one up before he continued talking. 

“Now, I'm going to tell you about the basics okay? My friends will deal with you, I don't handle the dirty works. They've got strict orders not to kill you, not until I say otherwise at least.” He said as an afterthought, smiling at Daryl, which responded with glaring daggers at the talking man.  
“I'm thinking pictures. I think we'll send pictures of your mangled face to your brother! You think he'd like that, huh?” 

Martinez laughed and started to leave the room not waiting for Daryl to answer his messed up question, not that he was going to anyway. 

“You know the rules fellas! Have fun!” He said and left the room. 

As soon as the the door closed behind Martinez back, the six men started to close in on Daryl, snickering and flexing their fists in an intimidating way.  
The only thing Daryl could do was to prepare himself for the unavoidable and hope to anyone that would listen that he made it out alive. 

*

The passing forty minutes had been the longest minutes of Daryl's life.  
It had felt like hours, maybe even weeks!  
They had taken turns hitting him, most of them had settled on hitting him with their fists, but one special asshole had thought it was fucking hilarious to use a knuckle iron to bruise his already sore ribs with. 

For the most part they went easy on him, for as far as beating the shit out of someone went.  
Whenever he were on the brink of passing out some shithole dunked a new bucket of ice water over him, and jerked him into cautiousness again. 

Daryl felt like shit! He had no way of defending himself against the assholes and he hated feeling weak and defenseless.  
He'd gone through the last minutes with his eyes closed, somewhat feeling better about his situation that way.  
He tried to shut his brain off, zoning out to a fantasy anywhere but there, back in Paul's apartment, laying in bed and holding him closely, kissing him, feeling his soft hair through his fingers.  
Not tied up to a chair while six maniacs pounded away at his face and body for something his brother had done! 

Suddenly a loud clattering noise could be heard coming from the exit.  
Martinez men stopped what they were doing and looked from each other to the door. 

“Thomas and Richard, you two go out and see what the hell that was!” The largest of the six men said. 

Thomas and Richard looked at each other, then the man named Richard shrugged and began to walk towards the door with Thomas closely behind him. 

“I'll say we take a pause.” The big guy said then paused to scan Daryl over.  
“Looks like pretty boy has had enough either way.” 

A round of laughter could be heard from the men as they walked over to the table to go back to their drinks. 

Everything happen so fast from there!  
The door flung open and Daryl was convinced he was dreaming again as his blurred vision took in the figure of Paul standing in the doorway. 

The men by the table were alerted quickly and ran towards the small man with raised fists, ready to give him the same treatment Daryl had received.  
They never got the chance though by how fast Paul averted their blows and pushed them away with his own fast fists and kicks.

He managed to knock the two smaller men out first, one by a hard kick to the head, the other one by catching the mans fist in his own and swiftly spinning him around, pushing him head first into the wall. 

Then he proceeded to knock the third smaller man of balance and launched for the big guy, swiftly averting his knuckle iron he closed into him and punched him in the jaw once he was close enough, he then kicked him on the side of his ribs, making the big guy topple over the third smaller guy still laying sprawled on the ground.  
Paul then walked over and punched the big guy once again, and made sure all of the men was out cold before making his way over to Daryl. 

Daryl was in total shock! Both for Paul actually being there and for what he'd just witnessed!  
He couldn't believe the strength that was stored in that small body of his! 

“Daryl?! Oh my god! Are you awake?! Look what they have done to you! He heard Paul's voice calling as he ran towards him. 

“’M fine. ‘M awake.” Daryl managed despite his rapidly swelling lower lip. 

“I'm going to cut the ropes okey. Just hang on, I'm getting you out, help is on it's way.” Paul said as he walked behind Daryl and started to cut his bindings. 

He could feel the strain of the ropes lessen and his hands started to tingle as the blood started to flow through them again.  
Paul kept on rambling on how sorry he was for what had happened to him and how much he wanted his captors dead.  
Once Daryl was freed Paul walked around to help him out of the chair he was sitting in. 

“What help?” Daryl asked when Paul helped him up to a standing position, steadying him a little as he started to sway a little on his feet. 

“I called Rick before I got in here. They're on their way.” Paul stated simply.  
“I wanted backup in case anything went wrong, and I really wanted to take these bastards down!” 

Daryl was starting to feel really dizzy and slumped over slightly, Paul was quick to catch him up in his arms before he could fall face first to the ground.  
Daryl took that moment to nuzzle his sore face into Paul's shoulder and hugged him as tightly as he could in his weekend state. 

“You scared me Daryl.” He heard Paul murmur into Daryl's shoulder. 

“’M sorry.” Daryl mumbled back, enjoying the feeling of having Paul in his arms again. 

“What a sweet sight for sore eyes!” 

Daryl snapped out of Paul's arms and looked over at the entrance to see Martinez standing there glaring at them with disgust written all over his face. 

“I've thought a lot about you Dixon, but I never pictured you as a faggot. Does your brother know about this disgusting little habit of yours?” 

He stepped in closer at them, aiming a gun at Paul's head.

“I don’t think he'd be sorry if I blowed this guys brains out. Quite the contrary actually, I think he'd thank me if I freed his little brother of the illness this fag have infected you with!” 

Daryl grabbed Paul by the arm and backed away with him, trying to get him away from Martinez aim. 

“Ya don't get to touch ‘im.” Daryl growled, trying to get the other man to focus on him instead of Paul. 

“You don't get to decide what I get to do you fucking disgrace of a man!” Martinez roared at him.  
“People like you two shouldn't be allowed to live! I ought to kill you both!”  
He fixed his narrowed eyes on Paul again.  
“Any last words?” 

Paul looked terrified, gaze flicking between the barrel of the gun to Daryl's face.  
“I think I love you Daryl.” He said slowly, grabbing Daryl's hand in his and squeezed it tightly. 

Daryl started to hyperventilate in time of his raising panic. He wanted to lift the other man and take him to a safe place far away from here. 

“That's sweet!” Martinez said.

Daryl could hear the faint click when the trigger was pulled and everything moved in slow motion from there. 

He didn't know how it had happened, but when he looked up he found himself laying on the ground with a sobbing Paul hovering over him.  
He could feel a sharp pain coming from below his ribs and how a strange warm wetness was slowly spreading over his shirt. 

He could hear a commotion in the distance, raised voices and footsteps walking back and forth.  
He tried to block everything but Paul's face and voice out of his mind. 

“Why did you do that!? I can't believe you did that! You can't leave me now! Please.” The younger man sobbed into Daryl's already stained shirt. 

He could see dark spots starting to dance in the corners or his vision and he knew he was slowly starting to loose cautiousness.  
He tried to get the other mans attention, he needed to talk to him before he lost his battle over his tired brain. 

“Paul.” He said, his voice sounded dry and cracked.  
Paul looked up from Daryl's shirt, eyes filled with pain and grief. 

“I think I love you too.” 

“No! No, Daryl don't you dare leave me!” Paul shouted, sobs wracking through his body as he leaned closer over Daryl's body.  
A strange feeling of déjà vu rolled over him as he did that.  
“Please stay awake.” 

Daryl couldn't even if he tried.  
He squeezed Paul's hand as tight as he could before his tired brain finally won the battle. 

*  
He felt like he was floating. Flashes of light and blurred faces rolled past his eyes from time to time. 

He could hear Paul's broken voice pleading him to keep his eyes open and to talk to him.  
Daryl wanted to tell him that he could hear him, that he was there but he was to tired to even try to open his mouth. 

The next thing he could hear was a male voice yelling at someone about somebody having lost a lot of blood and needed surgery right away.  
Somewhere deep inside his mind he knew they were talking about him, but it was like his brain didn't want to function. 

He could hear Paul speak again, his voice small and filled with tears. He couldn't understand what he was saying. It was like he was talking in a foreign language.  
Daryl tried really hard to focus to make out the words that was spoken between Paul and the other man, knowing it was important.  
But it was no use. He could slowly feel himself slipping away again, like he'd done too many times that night. 

*

Daryl opened his eyes slowly. The room he was in was painted a dull white color and smelled sterile.  
He could hear a faint beeping noise coming from a heart monitor on his right and there was tubes pumping him with fluids attached to his arms. 

He noticed a slight weight on his legs and looked down to see Paul sleeping on a chair next to his bed with his head resting on Daryl's legs. 

Daryl didn't want to wake the sleeping man next to him, but he couldn't feel the leg Paul was using as a pillow and really needed to move it!  
He nudged at Paul's shoulder softly hoping not to startle the sleeping man. 

Paul slowly blinked awake and sat straight up in the chair when he saw who looked back at him. 

“Daryl! You're awake!” He said softly, his voice sounded a little raw, most likely from all the crying he'd done. 

“Hi.” Daryl said, his own voice didn't sound better than the man sitting beside him. Sounding dry and cracked. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked him. 

“’M really tired and it hurts everywhere.” Daryl answered truthfully, figuring it would be obvious if he tried to lie and tell him that he was fine.  
Paul nodded and grabbed Daryl's hand that was resting on top of the ugly orange cover that were draped over Daryl's body. 

“Can I get you anything?” Paul asked him then, looking at Daryl with huge glossy eyes. 

“Some water would be nice. My throat’s real dry.” 

Paul nodded and got up from the chair.  
He walked across the room and filled up a plastic mug with water from the sink attached to the wall in the room and walked back to the bed to give Daryl the mug.  
Daryl drank greedily from the mug, feeling the cold water washing away the dryness and soothing his sore throat. 

He sat the empty cup down on the nightstand beside him and turned his head towards Paul who sat down on the chair beside him again. 

“How much do you remember?” Paul murmured while looking down on his hands on his lap. 

“Not much to be honest.” He said and Paul raised his head to meet his gaze.  
“I remember Martinez pointing a gun at yer face, asking ya to say yer last words. I remember ya saying something and then I'm laying on the ground with ya over me.” 

Paul frowned a little and nodded at Daryl's recap of the event.  
“You shoved me out of the way, making the bullet hit you instead of me.”  
He told him.  
“Rick and his men appeared soon afterwards, they were nearby and heard the gunshot, finding us that way.”

“You got hit right below your rib cage, the bullet missing your lung by just a few inches.  
I thought I had lost you Daryl.” Paul breathed, his eyes shining with unshed tears. 

“’M sorry.” Was all Daryl could say. 

“Rick called for an ambulance as soon as he saw you. He and another officer helped me to keep you stable until the paramedics got there.”  
Paul continued, his eyes now glued on Daryl's hand on top of the cover.  
“I wasn't allowed in the ambulance with you, but Rick offered me a ride, so we drove after you.  
When we arrived they were taking you to surgery. The doctor filled me in quickly before they took you away.” 

Paul looked up at Daryl.  
“’M really sorry Paul. I… I can't even…”

“Why did you run?” Paul cut Daryl off. 

Daryl was taken aback by Paul's sudden question. His mind was still foggy and tired so it took him a while to grasp what Paul was referring to. 

“I was afraid.” He said after a while. 

“Afraid?” Paul echoed.  
“Afraid of what?”

Daryl looked away from Paul's intense eyes as he thought about how he was going to answer his question.  
He didn't have the energy for this kind of discussion, but he really did owe Paul an explanation for his behavior. 

“I… I was afraid that I was going to lose you.” He began slowly.  
“I thought that if I left ya, ya would be safe from Martinez. I didn't want ta leave ya, it was the single hardest thing I ever had ta do…” he rambled, getting cut off when he felt Paul placing his hand over Daryl's.  
He turned his head towards the younger man then, seeing a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I understand.” Paul said then.  
“But don't ever do that again. I panicked when I woke up and seeing all your stuff gone. Then I found your note and got the urge to kick your ass instead.” He laughed and Daryl joined in with a small chuckle. 

“How did ya find me?” Daryl asked then, suddenly very curious how it was that the younger man had managed to find Martinez hideout. 

“Well… Mostly by chance actually. I got the feeling that you would go back to your trailer. Martinez was already there when I got there, so I hid my car and snuck up to the trailer without him noticing me. Then I just hid outside the trailer until he drove off with you and followed him.” 

“So it was ya!” Daryl exclaimed, making Paul jump.  
“Outside the trailer?! I thought I was seeing things!” 

“No… It was me.” Paul said.  
“Then I got lost at their hideout, that's why it took me so long to come and get you.” 

Daryl shrugged, he was just happy that he'd cared so much about him to actually bother to save his sorry ass. 

“Thank you.” Daryl said and Paul gave him a sweet smile. 

They fell silent for a while. Paul were still holding Daryl's hand in his and were stroking the back of it with his thumb, Daryl were on the verge of falling back to sleep, the whole conversation with Paul had totally drained him.  
Then another memory dawned on him like a lightning-bolt from a clear sky and he sat up slowly. 

“Paul?” He said carefully and the younger man looked up at him from his place on the chair. 

“Yes?”

“Before… When ya thought… Ya said that ya loved me.” 

Paul smiled at him.  
“I did. And so did you, right before you passed out.”

Daryl swallowed thickly. He remembered that he had wanted to tell Paul that before he died, but he didn't remember doing it. Well, apparently he had!  
“Did ya mean it?”  
Daryl couldn't help to ask. 

“I did. I do. Love you I mean. I know it's early and we've just gotten together, but I really believe that I love you.”  
Paul said and then he just sat there looking at Daryl, gnawing on his lower lip, apparently nervous about how Daryl would respond. 

Daryl insides felt like thousands of fluttering butterflies had moved in there and weren't leaving any time soon.  
A part of him wouldn't believe his ears!  
To actually hear that he were loved by someone, someone he actually had feelings for, he never thought that was going to happen to him. 

He could see that Paul were getting more and more nervous by the minute, and he cursed himself for staying quiet that long. 

“I love ya.”

Daryl spoke softly, but Paul's nervous expression melted of his face right after Daryl had uttered those three small words.  
Words he never thought he'd ever say to anyone. But it felt right, saying that to Paul, so it had to be true.  
It was like this man had pulled out a whole new side of him, a better side, a side with actual feelings.  
He liked that. 

Paul got up from the chair and moved in closer towards Daryl, and slowly – mindful of all of his injuries – captured his lips in a soft kiss. Daryl responded to the kiss as best as he could with a busted and bruised lip. 

When they broke apart Paul rested his head on Daryl's forehead a few seconds before he walked back to the chair and sat down again, grabbing Daryl's hand in his.

“Go to sleep Daryl.” Paul said softly.  
“I'll be here when you wake up.”

Daryl smiled at him before he closed his eyes.  
He managed to utter a softly spoken  
“You better.” Earning a laugh from Paul before he fell asleep again.


	12. Epilogue/ Now and Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is! The last chapter of this story.  
> Thank you so much to everyone who's been leaving kudos and comments, I really, really appreciate it. :) 
> 
> And a great THANK YOU to my person (I know you're reading this) for pushing me to finish this story. You're the best and you know it! :D 
> 
> I really hope you'll like this final chapter!

After Daryl had woken up for the second time Paul went to get the doctor.  
He had talked to him previously while Daryl was asleep, just to inform him that he had been awake. 

Dr Carson checked Daryl's injuries over and wrote on his notepad.  
“Everything looks good mr Dixon. You'll just have to stay a few more days for observation and then you'll be free to go!” He said and smiled at them. 

“How many days are we talking about?” Daryl asked gruffly, already getting antsy for having to stay in bed for so long. 

“Seven at most.” He informed him.  
“Then you have to take some precautions when you get home. You have to keep the wound clean so you won't get an infection,” he said gesturing to the bullet wound right below his ribs. “And you do have a concussion, so you will have to take it easy for at least few weeks.” 

Daryl groaned in frustration, but calmed down some when he felt Paul squeeze his hand gently.

“Other than that you will be fine.” Dr Carson said, closing his notepad.  
“I will be back again before you get discharged to check up on you, and the nurses will be here to take good care of you in the meantime.” 

With a light nod of the head to both men dr Carson said his goodbyes and walked out of the room leaving Paul and Daryl alone. 

“Seven fucken days!” Daryl groaned again.  
“They will have to admit me to psychiatric treatment after tomorrow because I will go insane!” 

“You'll be fine. I'm here.” Paul tried to reassure him. 

“That's some comfort sure, but yer not allowed to stay he night.” Daryl pouted. 

Paul chuckled and sat down next to the older man in the bed.  
“No, and I'm sorry but I have to work tomorrow. The bills don't pay themselves unfortunately.” 

Daryl groaned again, making Paul laugh out loud at his boyfriends whining.. 

*

About an hour after Dr Carson had left the room a cute blonde nurse showed up in the doorway and knocked carefully to alert attention to herself.  
Both men looked from the small screen of the tv over at her. 

“Mr Dixon, there's a police officer here to see you.” She said carefully.  
“I think he said his name was Grimes?” 

“It's okay, ya can send him in.” He said softly, the nurse looked so unsure of herself that he didn't dare to talk any louder in fear of scaring the poor girl. 

She left the room swiftly after Daryl had given his consent and just a few minutes after she left said officer walked into the room. 

”Hi Daryl, you look better.” Grimes greeted him.  
“How are you feeling?” 

“Kinda like I've been shot.” Daryl answered, frowning slightly. 

Rick nodded and walked across the room and sat down on the vacant chair next to Daryl's bed. 

“I've wanted to talk to you about what went down that night. If you feel like you have the energy to talk.” Rick said and looked into Daryl's eyes.  
“We need to hear your side too, we only know what happened after we barged in and Martinez isn't talking.” 

Daryl sighed and thought about it for a while.  
He had the whole ordeal with Martinez and his men close to mind, whenever he closed his eyes he saw Martinez cold eyes looking at him and he could feel the terror about not making it out alive creeping up on him. 

“Yea, whatever ya need. I want the bastard behind bars.” 

Rick breathed out and looked relieved at Daryl's words. 

“You and me both.” He said.  
“Okay, first thing first, what happened? How did he get to you?”

Daryl told the whole story on how he went back to the trailer – leaving out the part of him freaking out about Paul – and that he'd found him there, and taken him away in his car after him lecturing him about his brother.  
After that he told him about him being strapped to a chair when he woke up and how Martinez had left the room, leaving his boys to have their way with him.

“After a hour or so they heard a noise coming from the corridor and one of the guys send out two guys to check it out, then Paul barged in taking the guys out by himself.  
Martinez came in later and tried to shoot Paul because I'm together with him.  
I took the shot to save him…” Daryl ended the story. 

Rick nodded and wrote on his notepad.  
“Thank you. I hope this will be enough to send him away for a long time.” Rick said, smiling at both men.

“I hope so too.” Paul said. He had been listening intensely at Daryl's story, not asking anything about it since Daryl had woken up. But now finally hearing about it Daryl could swear that Paul could've killed Martinez on the spot if he was there by the amount of hate smoldered in his eyes. 

*

When Paul came back to the hospital after leaving Daryl alone for the night and the majority of the day for Paul to be able to go to work, he had a few other people with him. 

“Hey! How are you doing?” Tara said as she walked over to Daryl. 

“Jesus said you'd been through a lot, and I must say I thought he was exaggerating but now I see that he wasn't!” Eric said when he laid eyes on him, his eyes wide and full of sympathy. 

“Eric!” Aaron said, slapping his husband on the arm. 

“No it's fine.” Daryl assured them.  
“I've seen myself in the mirror, I know I look like shit.” 

“How are you feeling?” Tara asked.

“Better. I've been better, but I'm on some very good painkillers so I'm doing pretty good right now. Can't wait to leave this place though!” 

Tara's eyes widened and she glanced over to Paul who had made his way across the room and we're now sitting on the foot of the bed. 

“You really must be on some really good shit because this was the most I've heard you talk!” She said with a huge grin.  
Daryl could feel his face heat up when she said that. 

After they'd talked some more and eaten some of the doughnuts Aaron and Eric had brought with them Daryl couldn't help to ask what had been gnawing on his brain since they'd entered the room. 

“Why… Why did y'all come here? Ya don't know me.” 

He could feel all their eyes on him which made him feel a little uncomfortable despite his drugged up state.  
Tara opened her mouth but it was Aaron who spoke up. 

“It's easy really. You make Jesus happy.” 

Daryl looked over at the man with confusion written all over his face. 

“Of all the guys Jesus has dated you're the one that have made him the happiest. And you haven't been in his life for long, I can only imagine how happy you'll make him in the future.” 

Daryl turned his confused face to Paul only to see him smiling from ear to ear.  
“It's true you know!” He said.

“You just have to face it, you're part of the family!” Tara spoke up. 

Daryl felt a huge wave of emotions erupt though him by their words.  
He couldn't believe he'd made such and impact on not only Paul but his friends too.  
And he couldn't believe that even though the shit he'd let into the bearded mans life he and his friends still accepted him! 

“But I… I could've gotten him killed by the shit I brought ta him!” He managed to say through the lump that had appeared in his throat. 

“You didn't do anything, that was all your brother and Martinez of course. I've already explained everything to them.” Paul told him.

“Yep. No excuses man. You're stuck with us. Well mostly Jesus, but us too!” Eric said. 

Daryl looked around at the people in the room. And even though it felt extremely uncomfortable to be the center of attention he actually didn't mind to have those people around him. 

*

After the seven days of hospitalization Daryl had been healing well enough to get discharged.  
Dr Carson payed him another visit to check him over one last time and reminded him about the cruciality of keeping the wound clean and for him to take it easy for a few more weeks.

“That involves hard work with any heavy lifting and stressful labor.” He said. 

Daryl sighed and rolled his eyes at the annoying Doctor.  
“I got it! I won't do anything stupid.” 

“That's good to hear mr Dixon!” The doctor said paying no attention to the other mans childish behavior.  
“Will someone come and pick you up soon?” 

“Yea, I think Paul is on his way.” Daryl said, picking up the few things Paul had brought for him and put it in his bag on the bed. 

“Then I'll leave you to get ready. I'll send a nurse in here with your discharge papers.” He said and walked out the door, leaving Daryl alone in the room. 

A few hours later Daryl had signed the papers and were sitting in the hospital lobby waiting for Paul to arrive.  
He watched the smoking people outside the hospital windows and could really feel the urge for a cigarette himself.  
He'd gone without since he'd been admitted to the hospital eight days ago.  
He was just about to go out and ask if he could bum one from anyone when he saw Paul walk into the lobby through the sliding doors. 

“Hey!” He greeted and planted a soft kiss on the older mans lips, all thoughts of cigarettes just flying out of his mind.  
“You waited long?” 

“Nah, ten minutes or so.” He said, taking a small step backwards. 

“Good! I would be here earlier but the traffic was crazy.” He said picking up Daryl's bag from the floor.  
“Shall we?” He said with a nod towards the doors. 

Daryl nodded and began to walk to the exit with Paul right behind him. 

*

They drove straight for Paul's apartment, only stopping at a gas station for Daryl to buy the cigarettes he'd been asking for as soon as they sat down in the car.  
Daryl didn't waste any time at all and lit one up as soon as he'd stepped away far enough from the gas pumps.  
He took his first drag of the cigarette and breathed out slowly, feeling slightly light headed as he felt the nicotine spread through his body.  
He couldn't believe he'd lasted that long without one and not gone crazy!  
He smoked the rest of the cigarette slowly, relishing every last drag of it. 

“You feeling better?” Paul grinned when Daryl sat down in the passenger side again. 

“Yea.” He answered sheepishly and closed the door. 

“Good. Let's get home then.” Paul said, and shook his head in amusement as he woke the engine back to life. 

They drove the rest of the way to Paul's place in a comfortable silence, neither of them even bothering with turning the radio on.

*

“You can just put the bag in the bedroom for now and we'll unpack it tomorrow” Paul said as they walked into the apartment. 

When Daryl got into the bedroom he saw his crossbow standing by the nightstand on “his” side of the bed.  
He furrowed his brows and opened one of the wardrobe doors and saw a few of his clothes neatly folded on the shelves.  
He put his bag down on the floor and walked out of the bedroom. 

“Have you fetched back the stuff from my trailer?” He called at Paul in the kitchen. 

“Yeah, I did it yesterday when I got off work.” He called back and walked out off the kitchen. 

“Why?” He asked in confusion.  
He couldn't understand why Paul would go all the way to bring his shit back for him.  
Sure he knew that Paul loved him and all, but his crap wasn't Paul's responsibility. 

“I don't want you to go back to that place. So I went instead. I know your crossbow means a lot to you, and you need your clothes.” Paul explained with a shrug, leaning casually by the kitchen door, but Daryl could see that the man was nervous. 

“Thanks. But you didn't have to do that. I like the crossbow, but still.” Daryl replied softly. 

“I know. I wanted to.” Paul murmured. 

“I appreciate it. Really.” Daryl said. 

Paul smiled at him, a soft smile that made his whole face light up.  
Daryl knew that he wouldn't ever get tired of seeing that man smile. 

“Oh, and thank you, fer letting me stay here.” He said.  
“I will find a job as soon as I can and buy myself a new trailer, or maybe even a apparent of my own.” 

Paul moved in closer towards him, so close their toes almost touched and put a hand on Daryl's chest. 

“But it will take some time, but I promise…”

“I don't want you to move.” Paul interrupted.  
“I know it's soon, but thinking about everything we've been through in this short amount of time we've spent together, moving in together makes a lot of sense.”  
Paul looked at his hand wile he spoke, his voice sounding small and quiet.

“I mean, I'm not making you live here. And if you really want to we can search for a place for you, but I really want you to stay, here, with me.” 

Paul looked up at Daryl when he'd finished the sentence.  
Daryl didn't know what to say!  
He felt totally overwhelmed by various emotions again and he wondered if the man in front of him would ever seize to amaze him.  
He couldn't get a verbal response out, so he did the only thing he could think of and leaned in and kissed the younger man, trying to give him his answer that way. 

“Is that a yes?” Paul asked breathlessly when they finally broke apart. 

“Yes.” Daryl managed out just as breathlessly. 

*

”So this one ‘s making ya happy then?” Merle said with a gesture towards Paul across the table. 

After Daryl and Jesus had woken up the next day Paul came up with the brilliant idea to visit Merle for his day off.  
Daryl had complained quite loudly at the idea, meaning he and Jesus could stay in by the tv instead of talking to his brother.  
But Paul wouldn't have any of that, saying that he needed to meet Merle officially now that they were a real couple.

“You don't have to make such a big deal out of it, he already knows you're gay.” Paul argued when Daryl had whined for the tenth time since Paul had presented him with the idea. 

“I know! It's not me I'm worried about! I'm worried about you! His not the most civil guy around ya know” Daryl said. 

“I think I can handle it! Now come on!” Paul said and almost dragged Daryl off the sofa. 

Said and done, an half hour later Merle was seated down in front of them at the table. 

“He does.” Daryl answered shortly, narrowing his eyes in a ‘if you try anything I'll kick your ass, guards be damned’ kind of way. 

“I'm not saying I understand this, because I don't. But if yer happy, don't let me stand in the way.” Merle said tiredly.  
“Now!” He said then, leaning over the table to get a better look at Paul.  
“If ya hurt my brother, I will kill ya. I hope ya know that kid, I ain't messin’ around.” 

Paul leaned back in the chair and looked wide eyed over at Daryl who barely, just barely could hold his amused expression under control. Because that was seriously the last thing he expected Merle to say. 

“I would never… No… I…” Paul stuttered. 

“Good, that's all I wanted ta hear. We're good now kid.” He said. 

Paul looked over at Daryl again who were biting on his lower lip to stop himself from laughing.  
Paul shoot him a dirty look and Daryl just shrugged his shoulders. 

“So brother, what have happened to ya? Ya look like yer been hit by a truck.”

Daryl sighed and leaned closer to him over the table.  
“Martinez.” He just said. 

“Oh.” Merle grunted.  
“He catch ya then?” 

“Could say that.” Daryl stated and told him the whole story about him and Martinez. 

By the time he'd finished Merle's eyes were burning with rage.  
“That motherfucker…” Merle growled under his breath.  
“That bar wasn't in his possession when we made that deal! Either he's lying or just forgot to mention it ta me. Ta be able ta get ta us or somethin’. When I see him I'll fucken kill ‘im.” 

“Well then you'll have to wait, because his behind bars now, and it doesn't look like his getting out any time soon if the odds are in our favor.” Paul cut in carefully.

“I can wait, I'm a pretty patient man if I need to.” He said then and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I bet ya are brother” Daryl said. 

*

“That went well” Daryl said as they walked through the door of Paul's apartment later that evening. 

“I bet you think so, you weren't the one getting threatened.” Paul huffed at him. 

“It was yer idea ta go see him, not mine.” Daryl chuckled. 

Paul sighed in defeat and walked over to the sofa and sat down.  
“You're right. Just didn't expect to get the whole ‘if you hurt my brother’ speech out of him.” 

“Neither did I.” Daryl said and took a seat beside him.  
“It was a happy surprise, didn't think he cared that much.” 

Paul laughed and turned so he was facing Daryl on the sofa.  
“Of course he cares. This whole thing happened because he cares.” He said gesturing between them.  
“He beat me up because he thought I raped you right?”

“That and because he doesn't like homosexuals, but yea, mostly that.” 

“Well there you go!” Paul said and smiled.  
“He cares.” 

Daryl shook his head in mild amusement and closed the gap between their faces to capture Paul's lips with his own.  
It started as a sweet kiss, but soon escalated to a heavy make out session, their breaths getting heavier and heavier every time they parted for air. 

Daryl stood up from the sofa and grabbed Paul's arm to pull him up.  
“Come on.” He said in a husky voice. 

“What? No! You're hurt. I don't want to hurt you more.” Paul breathed. 

“Ya won't! We'll be careful, now come on!” 

Paul still didn't move from the sofa and looked up at Daryl with dark but unsure eyes. 

“Please Paul. I… I need you. Now.” Daryl pleaded, looking deep into those dark eyes clouded over with lust and love. Paul gave in with a groan and followed the older man into the bedroom.

“Lay down.” Paul ordered him, and Daryl more than happily obeyed. 

Paul climbed over to Daryl, leaning over him and gave him another heated kiss, which Daryl eagerly responded to.  
Daryl clutched Paul's shirt with his hands and felt how Paul raked his fingers through his hair, holding a tight grip at the strands. 

Daryl moaned into Paul's mouth when he felt Paul tug at his hair and tilted his head up a little more, giving Paul more room to explore.  
Paul trailed downwards, leaving a trail of wet kisses on Daryl's cheek and neck.  
Daryl gasped when he felt Paul bite down lightly at his exposed collarbone, and groaned when he felt him drag his tongue on the area seconds later. 

“Paul please.” He gasped.

“Yes?” Paul said, looking up at him with his dark hooded eyes. 

“Please just…” Daryl trailed off and gasped loudly when he felt Paul ground his erection against his fully hard member.

“Yes, tell me.” Paul teased and continued to ground his hard cock against Daryl's.  
He did it painfully slowly so he wouldn't risk hurting his boyfriend, but Daryl couldn't care less about the fucking bullet wound at the moment.  
He wanted Paul to fucking rip his clothes off and have his way with him now! 

“Paul!” Daryl moaned.  
“Clothes. Off! Now!” 

Paul laughed at his impatience, but complied and started to take his shirt off.  
Daryl followed soon afterwards and shed all his clothes in record speed, tossing his shirt somewhere in the room and tugged his pants and underwear off at the same time while Paul had moved off of him to shed his own pants.  
The fast movements pulled some on his wound and made him flinch a little.  
He tried to hide it from Paul, and failed.

“Take it easy babe.” He said and climbed on top of him again to caress his face with his hands. 

Daryl had forgotten all about the pain in the wound again and was solely focused on the very hot very much naked man who were straddling his equally naked lap. 

“M’ fine.” He breathed on Paul's lips before he claimed them with his own, earning a surprised gasp and moan from the other man. 

“I guess you are.” Paul groaned when they broke apart again and Daryl's hand traveled down between their bodies and grasped around Paul's hard cock.  
He started tugging on it with slow and steady strokes, making the younger man gasp and twitch against his body. 

“God Daryl!” He said and kissed him hard on the mouth.

Paul backed away from the older man after a while, earning a scowl from Daryl. 

“Don't look at me like that.” He said as he leaned over at his night stand and started to search through the drawer. 

“What are ya doing?” Daryl asked and got his answer when Paul leaned back and held a small bottle of lube in his hand. 

“Had to find this.” He said while he opened the bottle and coated two of his fingers with it.  
He shifted so he was positioned right between Daryl's legs, gazing straight into Daryl's eyes with his dark burning eyes. 

Daryl watched intensely as Paul lowered his hand gasped when he felt Paul's fingers circulating around his opening, trying to get him to relax a bit before he inserted one of the fingers into him.

“Fuck!” Daryl moaned.  
“Ya can do one more.” 

“You're so impatient.” Paul mock-scolded.

“Yea, for you I am.” Daryl replied huskily. 

“Shit Daryl.” Paul breathed and inserted one more finger, scissoring them to get him to open up more. 

After a while of preparation Daryl started lifting his hips off the bed, meeting Paul's movements with his hand. 

“Paul. I need ya. Please.” He pleaded breathlessly. 

Paul retrieved his hand from Daryl's opening and grabbed the lube to coat his leaking cock before positioning himself between Daryl's open legs. 

“You sure?” Paul asked him.  
“I don't want to hurt you…”

“Ya fucken won't! Now come ‘ere!” Daryl said, winding his legs around Paul's hips and pulled him down towards him.  
“I won't break.”

Paul groaned and started pushing into a very eager Daryl, who groaned as soon as he felt Paul starting to enter him.  
Paul took it slow, very slow.  
Daryl tried to speed the process along with his own thrusts upwards, but Paul stilled his movements by putting a hand on his hips. 

“What the…” Daryl started only to be silenced by Paul's lips on his. 

Paul laid down fully on top of Daryl, moving all of his body in time with his thrusts. 

That was a whole new experience for Daryl. He was used to hard and fast, not slow and sweet.  
He found it strangely erotic, the way he could feel all of Paul's body on top of him, all damp and hot with thin layer of sweat.  
The way his leaking erection was dragging across Paul's hard abs with his every movement.  
Yes, he could definitely get used to it. 

After a few minutes Paul's movements sped up slightly, and his breaths became more erratic and shallow.  
He shifted his angle slightly and hit that special spot that made Daryl see stars and moaned out loudly. 

“You okay?” Paul panted. 

“Yes, fuck yes. Don't stop!” Daryl moaned. 

Paul kept on hitting in the same angle and sneaked his hand in between their bodies to grasp Daryl's rock hard cock.  
He tugged at him in time with his own movements, helping Daryl along. 

“Paul…” Daryl gasped.  
“Fuck!”

Daryl's body spasmed as he reached the best orgasm he'd had in, ever. His come spurting on his chest and all over Paul's hand.  
He could hear Paul reach his own climax a few seconds after him, as he moaned Daryl's name into his ear and collapsed next to him after pulling out gently. 

“I didn't want to crush you.” Paul explained when Daryl looked at him funny. 

“No worries by how tiny ya are.” Daryl teased. 

“I'm quite heavy!” Paul laughed. 

“Mmhmm, whatever ya say.” Daryl said as he pulled Paul closed to him and gave him a soft kiss. 

*

Daryl woke up early the following morning and found a sleeping Paul laying with his head and arm on Daryl's chest.

Looking back at everything that had happened Daryl couldn't feel other than lucky to have found the man currently snuggled up at him.  
The same man who had showed him how to love and how to be loved without even trying.  
The man who would go miles to save him from a fucking mafia boss without a second thought.  
And he would do the same for Paul without a doubt. 

He couldn't help to feel a little grateful towards his brother too, because if Merle hadn't dragged him away at that bar that night he wouldn't have met Paul.  
He made a mental note to actually thank Merle next time he saw him, just to screw with him if nothing else. 

“What are you thinking about?” He heard Paul ask. 

He looked down at the sleepy man on his chest. 

“Only you.” He dared to say, earning a bright smile from him.


End file.
